New Save File
by Captain Combat Beard
Summary: Sonic thinks a lot. Too much for his own good. He likes to think about what it would be like to do something over. To try different things. He decides to test his theories, within the Tales of King Arthur, where he has control. Rated M for a complete disregard of censorship.
1. From Humble Beginnings

**PROLOGUE: FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS**

Sonic was brushing off some old things in his apartment. He was a bit of a pack rat, the apartment had too much stuff in it, and he had to get rid of some things. But the problem with him was he wanted to keep a lot of things. Stacks of magazines, furniture, memorabilia of his older days, including a snow board, the Bounce Bracelet, a box of ammunition from the Ocean Tornado, and pictures from the aftermath of all his adventures. He traveled far and fast and left cities behind him in the dust, but he never wanted to forget a friend.

Surely there were OTHER things he could throw out though. Like books! Tails gave him a bunch of books a year back that he never read. He did read a couple, and those turned out to be more... "_gripping"_ titles. He feared the day he would touch them again.

Looking in the closet, a box full of a lot of things caught his eye. Game cartridges from old systems, books, magazines, video tapes, loads of things inside that box. Interested, he pulled the box onto a table and began to search through it. He first pulled out a black GameBoy cartridge. It had no official label, only some tape Sonic put on and some permanent marker writing, which read, "Pokemon Black".

_Oh god, _Sonic thought. _It's that game._ He bought that bootleg game at some flea market years ago. It was basically Pokemon Blue, but you could have a ghost starter, which only knew 1 move: Curse. Curse wasn't a status effect, it literally instakilled any pokemon and trainers when it was used. But after you beat the elite four, everyone in the game disappears, your character is an old man, and when you return to Pallet Town you fight the Ghost with no pokemon, and die, even if you didn't pick it as a starter. -_PRETENTIOUS HIPSTER BULLSHIT._-

Sonic looked back at the box. -_This must be stuff that I found weird... Oh hello, what's this?_- Sonic reached for the black book inside. He took a look at the cover, as the name of the book was embedded into the hardcover book's front, and any paint or such had crumbled off.

It read "King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table".

_-Nope.-_

Sonic immediately put the book back in the box. Last time he had touched that book, he was sucked into it. He noticed a trend with pink haired humans in the books Tails gave him. He thought about that. -_Are they really different people in need of help, or is it something else...?_- Sonic wondered what it could have been. He shook the train of thought away when he thought that there could be a ghost possessing the books or something. He had enough of ghosts when Chip and him decided to take a stop at an abandoned mansion for the night.

He looked back at the book. -_Didn't I end the world in there? What's the final pages look like?_-Sonic thought about what could happen if he opened the book. -_Nah, no way I'm opening it if it could suck me in. Wait a second, if I open up at the end, does that mean I get inserted at the end or do I go back to the beginning anyway? What happened to the characters after that? Caliburn, the Blacksmith, Lancelot, Gawain, Percival...-_

After a moment of thought, Sonic picked at the book again. -_I could use a vacation. Getting a break at my real life in favor of one where there's no evil scientist sending robots to kill me, no clingy obsessive girl, nothing like that stuff, would be great, even if for a day or so. -_

Sonic gulped, and he opened to the last 5 pages.

-_Blank. Okay, next one._- Sonic said as he looked at the other page. It was blank as well.

Sonic flipped a page again. Both the pages were blank. -_Odd._-

Sonic turned to the last page. There was text on it, but not a lot. He brought it up to eye level and began to read aloud.

"Liar. You said you would fight with us. You said you would never back down, no matter how big the threat. You spent forever telling us that, in the end you just tossed it away. Like a lot of other things. Well, you were right about one thing, though." Sonic read. There was no text on the rest of the page. He looked at the back of the cover and found some large words.

"'Will is your master'. _Coward._"

Sonic let the book drop to his crossed legs. "'Coward'? _'COWARD'_?" he shouted, shutting the book closed. He got up and thought about the books final pages. "Man, did they really think that when I left? Okay I did sound psycho toward the end because by then I realized I couldn't really die in the book... Could I do another run or something?" Sonic began to walk toward the book, but then stopped midstep. -_No, I want to bring something with me. Make it more fun. But what?_-

Sonic sat in his comfy computer chair for a moment and thought.

An ever so grinchy smile came across his face as he hatched an idea.

-_A bit sadistic of me..._- Sonic thought to himself, as he got onto his computer. He began research. For a lot of things. Things that could have been made in medieval times, giving the blacksmith more credit than he deserves. Items that could have been made, but no one had the right know-how. Sonic was going to bring that know-how in.

….

For days, he researched their characteristics, the materials needed to make them, when they were first developed, how complicated they were, he researched the items and studied them until he knew how they worked and what did what. When he met with the blacksmith he could get him to make the tools and gadgets he studied.

Sonic checked the time, and day of the week. The time was 12:36 PM, on a Sunday. Knowing he should finish the book within a week, Sonic will be experimenting if time travels differently inside the book, with time lapses and such.

Sonic walked into the closet and turned on the light. -_I wonder if I could use the book to smuggle myself into other places. Like mail it to Eggman, come out inside his base, and wreck his shit? That'd be awesome. I have to tell Tails about that idea when I get out of there._- He was wearing a belt, so that he could hold scavenged swords -_Hell I need to tell Tails that these books are cursed... No. NO ONE MUST KNOW OF MY SECRET._-

Sonic grabbed the box and pulled it out from under the coats. He picked up the book in it. -_And another thing, can I bring anything out of there? Oh god I can imagine the look on Eggman's face when I pop out of a book he's reading with Caliburn in one hand, Lancelot's scimitar in the other, and Percival's rapier in my mouth, like Zolo from One Piece.-_

He opened the book to the last page. He took out a pen, and began to write.

"You shouldn't have done that." was freshly written in ink when Sonic was done.

Sonic sighed, and turned to page one, and held it away from his face. Last time he was sucked into a book his face didn't feel delightful in the slightest. In seconds, his body shrunk to the size of a raisin and went into the pages. The book collapsed onto the ground, closed.


	2. New Save File

**CHAPTER 1: NEW GAME**

Sonic did a free fall from a large hole in the sky. Screaming just as loudly as the first time, he was not used to falling from large heights while not in a ball. He managed not to make himself land as silly as he did last time, and thankfully, he didn't have to rush around catching chilli dogs falling from the sky. Rubbing his head, he got up.

"Being from a distant world! Forgive my abrupt summons!" a female voice from behind him worriedly said.

Sonic got up, looked at a giant armored black horse, along with an equally large yet more armored knight riding the horse, all too familiar to Sonic. He looked behind him to see a girl with a purple gown and a large staff, and behind her an army.

Sonic cracked his neck and fingers. "Alright, I can see where this is going." Sonic said as he walked up to the large army. "Hey!" he shouted, gaining the army's attention.

The group slowly started walking toward him. "Don't blink!" Sonic said, reaching behind his back and pulling out the kitchen knife. Quickly, he made through the whole entire company of knights and demons, row by row, stabbing them through weak points in their armor, leaving thick amounts of dirt and dust in the air, enough to completely mask the large band of knights and demons, but you could still hear the screams.

When the dust settled, the young woman saw Sonic finishing up putting a bow on his back, tossing away the knife and putting the sword in a gap between his belt and side. He walked out of the field of bodies, past the young woman he knew as "Merlina" and up to the giant horseman.

"Those guys were easy! I hardly even tried!" Sonic shouted, trying to get his reaction.

"What are you..." Merlina was cut off.

"Hey! Can you hear me? Those guys sucked!" Sonic shouted more, furthering his attempt. He glanced at the horse for a moment, and smiled.

He put two fingers up to his mouth.

"PHWEEEEEEEEEEE."

The horse began to sprint toward the hedgehog. Sonic felt Merlina grab her hand, but he broke out of the grab. He sprinted up to the horse, and jumped on one of its legs.

"GET DOWN FROM THERE!" Merlina ordered at the hedgehog now on the horse's leg.

"Why?" Sonic replied as he began to climb it, humming an orchestrated tune to himself. He didn't hear a reply.

He continued to climb until he came to the knee. By this time the Black Knight had gotten the horse to slow down, so he could try to kick him off. Sonic saw the giant knight raise his foot, and he knew what he had to do.

Sonic took his sword, and stabbed the horse in the knee.

The horse collapsed onto itself, the Knight losing balance and falling off, Sonic had dropped off of the horse by this time. Sonic ran to the horse's feet, and raised his sword. He put the sword down unsatisfied by the lack of ominous blue markings on the bottom of its feet.

Merlina came rushing over to Sonic and grabbed his hand. He had no objection this time. He let Merlina cast a teleportation spell, sending them away from the gravel road.

The Black Knight was furious. His horse had suffered a wound in his first encounter with this new blue creature, before he could react, too. He went up to the wounded leg and placed his hand over it. A fog of darkness covered the knee, and when it dissipated there was a black bandage over the knee. The Knight began to lift his horse upright, and stood with ease. He mounted it and rode to a cliff near the road, where he was at eye level with the three knights standing there. One was a red echidna. The next was a black hedgehog with red highlights on his quills. The last was a female lavender cat. At the sign of their king's presence, they knelled.

"I shall give chase." The large horseman ordered. "Spread out and go after them. Slay them on sight."

The three nodded. And with that, the knight rode off.

The first to rise was the cat. "Let's go." She said.

"Must we?" the red knight questioned. "She is the royal wizard after all."

The hedgehog answered. "The King's orders are absolute, Ga-"

"Yes, but-"

"Without loyalty to the king, we are nothing." The female interrupted.

The hedgehog turned around and began to walk away from the cliff.

"Still, the king... he's changed. And the kingdom..." she continued. She looked back at Gawain. She looked as if she wanted to say something, but she shook it off.

She began to walk off. Feeling misunderstood, he followed slowly.

* * *

"What were you thinking? You can't go and try to attack him like that! He wouldn't be hurt anyway!" Merlina complained.

"Yeah, but the horse seemed to be in pain when I stabbed its knee." Sonic replied. "That must have slowed their party a little."

"It would only be a minute or so!" Merlina retorted. "At most!"

Sonic began to lecture. "A second can mean a lot. Let's say you take a detour, going no where, and you have to go back, and waste ten seconds. That's ten seconds behind on your whole life. Ten seconds off of dodging an assassin's blade. Ten seconds off of meeting someone who will change your life. Ten seconds off in a contest. Not having any ten seconds changes your life _forever_."

Merlina rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I am Merlina the Wizard. And you are?"

"Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog." Sonic answered. "I have read about King Arthur and the Scabbard, so I am well informed on that."

"Good, that saves some time." Merlina replied relieved. "You also know that his servants, the Knights of the Round Table, carry sacred swords?"

"I sorta figured that." Sonic said. "It'd be a bad choice to give your best men your worst weapons."

"Yes. To properly arm yourself against the Knights, you need-"

"A sacred sword."

"Yes!"

"Alright, I've heard some rumors about one being in a stone at Misty Lake? Couple of kids saw it or something."

She stared for a moment. And then she nodded. -_She probably thinks I'm psychic._-

"I'll go get it. I'll be right ba-"

"Wait!"

Sonic sighed as she clamped on a heavy metal gauntlet.

"What's this for?" -_I know it seems stupid but I had to know why she cursed me with this giant anvil for a hand._-

"It's to protect your hand, in case you accidentally block with the hilt. It also provides more finger strength."

_-Just give me Digging Claws and a Bounce Bracelet why dontcha? Unlike this piece of crap, those I can be pretty crafty with._- "Alright." Sonic said, rushing off.

* * *

Smashing target after target with expert timing, Sonic began to worry if he was appearing TOO skilled. Like, as if he was using a sword weeks ago. -_Y'know, I just tossed that book in the box not even half a year ago._- He let her comment on him as she wanted.

"Are all creatures from your world as coordinated as you?" Merlina asked.

Sonic thought for a moment. "I _wish! _If everyone was as good as I was, I wouldn't have had to save the world as many times as I did. I swear I've done almost everything someone tells me to." Sonic explained. -_Sonic! Rip off a piece of metal from that helicopter and skate down San Francisco with it! Sonic! Beat your metal clone in a race! Sonic! Save me! Sonic! Beat a master of CQC in a fist fight! Sonic do this, Sonic do that, SONIC DO EVERYTHING._-

Sonic jumped off the vine and ran onto a walkway, where there were rampaging boars. "Are they really running straight into water?"

"Defend yourself!" Merlina ordered.

Sonic jumped on one's head, and flung himself into the air, landing on a third row of boars, jumping off that row and landing on the last and rolling off.

"... or not."

Sonic slashed the targets and ran by, just running through. He noticed more stampeding boars coming his way, but he didn't have enough time to jump. He slashed through them and continued onward.

"Well Sonic, since you seem to be doing very well, why don't you try something a bit more challenging?" Merlina asked.

"If it is a dragon, _it better not breathe fire_, then I'd think you'd be trying to kill me..." Sonic said, changing his tone from perky to paranoid in seconds as a large shadow covered him.

"... Well, it is a dragon," Merlina said. "But it doesn't breathe fire. It's the guardian of the lake, the Mist Dragon."

"So it breathes the opposite of fire?" Sonic questioned as he kept running to the dragon.

"... No." Merlina answered. "Beware, it is a very powerful foe, and-" She stopped to look at what Sonic was doing.

Sonic threw his sword, from dozens of feet away from the dragon. The sword landed in the giant crystal horn on its snout, giving it tremendous pain. In this pain, Sonic rushed up onto the snout, retrieved the sword, and shattered the crystal horn. The dragon shook Sonic off and hurriedly flew off in pain.

"DOMINATED, YOU OVERSIZED SALAMANDER!" Sonic shouted his best R. Lee Ermey impersonation as the dragon flew off. "WHY DON'T YOU COME BACK WHEN YOU GROW A PAIR?"

Merlina walked up to the skilled hedgehog. "... Did you really just...?"

Sonic turned around and put the sword on his shoulder. "Yep! That throw really fucked with my arm, though. The crystal on the dragon's head may as well be made out of rock candy, though. Didn't need much to break it."

"Ah. I see." Merlina replied. "Through that tunnel is the sacred sword's resting place."

"Alright." Sonic said, rushing through the tunnel.

Sonic came out of the end of the tunnel seconds later, noticing the sword in the stone. The sword's name was 'Caliburn'. He walked up to the ledge and climbed on top of it. He then pulled on the sword.

"Agh, throwing a sword about a hundred yards was NOT a good idea when I knew I was going to have to pull a sword out of a rock..." Sonic ranted. Shortly after, he pulled it out, and fell on his backside. He sighed, and looked at the sword. "Finally." He put the Caliburn face down- purposefully-, and laid there on his back. "I could use a rest."

Merlina came out of the tunnel moments later. "Where's the sword?"

"Right here," Sonic answered, raising the Caliburn up.

"Waking up after being put in a rock for hundreds of years with my face down in the dirt is a _nice feeling_." The sword said.

"I'd put you in a rock if you kept nagging on me." Sonic said smartassly. "I'm sure there's swifter and sharper swords.

"Haha, yes, but are they SACRED?" Caliburn argued.

"Nothing is truly sacred." Sonic answered.

"... Anyway," Caliburn replied, not wanting to try to come up with a counterargument at the moment. "I am Caliburn. And your name is?"

"Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog."

"Hmph. You look knavey." The sword grunted.

"What was that?" Sonic said almost shocked at how lame that was. -_What the hell kind of word is "knavey" anyway? Oh god I can see bad puns coming right out of this guy's mouth for the rest of the book._-

"Maybe I should reword that. You look like a knave." Caliburn replied. "You don't look good. You look like you're scared of guards. You look like you've never held a sword before. I tried making it a joke saying you're blue, but apparently neither of us have a sense of humor."


	3. Fight the Knight

**CHAPTER 2: FIGHT THE KNIGHT**

"Don't look now, but there's a giant horseman behind me with very bad stealth skills. If you don't mind, I'll use you to fight him." Sonic said, turning around behind him as King Arthur rode closer.

"Oh, well the- Wait what are you doing? That's King Arthur! At least tell me what you're trying to accomplish with killing the king!" Caliburn frantically shouted.

"He's not a good king." Sonic simply answered.

"Okay but you'll be mincemeat!"

Sonic ignored this comment as he got into a fighting stance.

"Are you really using that stance, it's too high of a skill level for a knave such as you."

"I just beat a god _damned dragon_ without getting hit. Sure I'm tired because my opening move was throwing a sword _a hundred feet_ BUT STILL."

"Now, let us see the power of your so-called sacred sword." King Arthur butted in.

Sonic watched as King Arthur turned his horse began to gallop off.

"Oh you WOULD run away after what I did to your horse!" Sonic shouted in pursuit.

Caliburn paused. "... What was that, may I ask?" He did not get an answer.

Sonic dashed after the knight, who stopped at the entrance to a short tunnel under a sanctuary. He turned around to slash at Sonic, but was a bit slow as Sonic had gotten onto one of the horses legs. He began to hum a familiar tune as he climbed up the horse's leg.

"Sonic quit fooling around! Get off and attack him already!" Caliburn ordered.

"No way!" Sonic said as he got to the knee of the creature. Its bandages marked his previous stab location pretty well. Sonic grabbed onto the top and reared back the sword, while Arthur raised his foot.

"Oh lord, what are you doing!" Caliburn shouted bursting with fear and anger.

Sonic stabbed the horse in the knee once more, resulting in the horse going crazy for a moment, kicking and bucking everywhere. Sonic pulled out Caliburn and hopped off before it crashed onto him.

"Sonic I'd like to inform you that what you just did was _the stupidest_ idea I have ever seen _work_." Caliburn ranted.

"Yeah yeah, whatever." Sonic shrugged the insult off as he pulled out a bow and arrow. He shot the joints in Arthur's armor while he was getting up, with little to no avail.

"And that was the smartest idea I've ever seen _not _work_._" Caliburn continued. "No knight you are, but an Archer you are close to decent."

Sonic ignored this, stowed away the bow and picked up Caliburn as Arthur got up. He quickly got his horse back on its feet. It stayed up this time, and Arthur was already on it by the time Sonic got there. Sonic swung his sword, but the knight blocked it. He swung again, this time twisting Arthur's wrist as he blocked it. While he was stunned by the wrist, Sonic rushed up and slashed him across the chest. The knight flew back on the horse and kicked its hind leg gently. The horse dashed off, leaving a little dust in its wake. Sonic dashed to pursue.

"Run run, as fast as you can!" Sonic shouted to the fleeing knight.

"Pursue me at your own peril, weakling!" Arthur replied. Arthur dragged his sword across the ground, tearing a hole in the ground. Several underworld dwellers popped out to intercept the hero.

Sonic tore straight through them, without even losing speed. As he flew through the purple smoke remains of the last one in line, he saw Arthur waiting to fight. Sonic rushed over, jumped, and prepared to strike. When he swung, it was blocked and he was knocked to the ground. He deflected Arthur's counterblow as he was getting up. As Arthur began to swing once more, he rolled onto the ground, dodging the attack, and slashed at the horse's front leg.

"Ha!" Sonic laughed as the horse's reaction to the slash had messed with Arthur's plan of actions, giving him enough time to get up and slash him again.

With a grunt in pain, Arthur kicked the now leveled horse in an unwounded leg hard. The horse sped off onto a curve in the road. Sonic dashed, jumped, and began to grind on the railing on the side. He noticed the horse was much slower now. And, as the horse jumped over a gap in the bridge onto grassland, its legs collapsed leaving Arthur sitting there, much closer to the water than where he was last time they fought here. -_Just as planned.-_

Sonic leaped off the railing, toward the knight, with Caliburn held with two hands and reared over his head, backhanded style. He slammed the sword right into his back, piercing the armor.

With a shout of pain and something else, -_I think it was Caliburn cheering, or booing, or something._- Arthur teleported off his horse, who proceeded to get up and rush off to a distance as fast as it could, and Arthur appeared several feet away.

"You're makin' this so easy, I'm actually gettin' _worse_." Sonic taunted the king, using a low tone.

"You just did not say that." Caliburn commented. "There is no way you can fight a king and get worse, you silly knave."

"Yeah there is. They're all piss easy. Watch I bet I'll fight royalty in my adventure like three times and I'll win every onna 'em, this one included." Sonic replied, talking without wanting to move his tongue much..

Caliburn looked at the injured King. "Don't look now, but all the work you spent into killing the king is being wiped away like nothing."

Sonic turned and looked at the king. Light blue trails of magic gently flowed into the king. "Caliburn, tell me one thing before I try to attack him again."

"Alright." Caliburn said, interested in Sonic's question.

"The Scabbard gives its bearer immortality, no?" Sonic asked.

"You are right."

"Can the Scabbard be destroyed? In the case that happens, would its powers work still?"

"... I've never thought of that. It doesn't seem like anything a sword cannot cut through, but in the case the Scabbard was in halves, I think that you would require both parts to use its ability." Caliburn answered, completely forgetting that he was insulting the hedgehog moments earlier. "Great question, I never thought it would cross your mind. So quickly, at least. Next time, give it a try. It might work."

Arthur jumped onto his horse. "Hah! A fool of a knight, not even worth slaying!"

"According to this guy here, I'm a knave." Sonic shouted back.

Arthur stared for a moment, and turned his horse around.

"Also, are you sure you are running away because I'm not worth the time trying to kill? Or is it that your horse would be a useless head on a stub with bits of legs laying around it if you stayed for more than five minutes? It's only been THIRTY SECONDS!" Sonic taunted even more. _Yes, the fight was that short. That bitch got DOMINATED._

Arthur disregarded this comment as he rode off, his horse soaring to the skies.

Sonic stared at Arthur's horse. "Oh that sure is logical."

"When you're that size, only the ordinary becomes awkward." Caliburn joked with him. "You did a very nice job in that fight. You proved me wrong on a lot of things, especially the last move. It was almost, I can't believe I am saying this, on the same performance tier as a knight."

Sonic rose his fist into the air about to cheer, but Caliburn spoke first.

"Almost. I cannot name you a knight off of one battle. But I can tell you, that you are, for sure, not a knave."

_-Holy shit, it's a cold day in Hell and a stormy day in Heaven._- "Okay. I'm okay with not being called a knave. While we're on the right track why not call me 'Sonic', and just that outside of fancy stuff?"

"Why not I just decide whatever I want to call you on the spot?"

"Eh, not being called knave is good enough. But I swear if anyone calls me 'Knave the Hedgehog', I'm gonna kill them."

"For as long as he bears that scabbard," Merlina said, walking up to the two. "We may never be able to defeat King Arthur."

"We have a plan on that." Sonic replied. "It requires me getting into another fight with him though, and slashing the Scabbard. He ran off, scared of the thought of his horse with no feet." -_Come to think of it, what other cheap shots have I missed? Hmmm..._-

Merlina nodded. "That may work then, but in the mean time, shouldn't we think of everything we can do to stop it? You know, make it easier to defeat him, without focusing on hitting the Scabbard?"

_-Good, I didn't want to destroy it anyway. I want it.-_ "Alright. Any ideas?" Sonic asked.

"Nimue was the previous owner of the Scabbard. We should go talk to her." Merlina answered.

_-Good, Nimue is such a break from the normal Amy. I swear I tried getting her to bug off from sunrise to sunset. She chased me for TWELVE HOURS, and next morning she was in a sleeping bag on the fire escape right outside my window. Hey wait... My plan!- _"Alright, let's go get he-... Oh crap."

"What?" Caliburn asked as Sonic picked him up and looked at his blade.

"That doesn't look too good. Getting a little dull there, teach." Sonic said, rubbing the tip of the blade. -_Well it's not like I'd miss Nimue more than Amy, either. Smithy's the guy I've been waiting for._-

"A gentleman like me shouldn't have an edge."

_-Cut the crap already.-_ "If you didn't have an edge, you're a pretty shitty sword, considering you were forged with the intent that you would kill people."

"Swords don't kill people. They just aide in doing so."

_-Actually nevermind, he's fun talking with when he's not an ass._- "Yeah, but you're still a pretty shitty sword." Sonic replied, walking along the road to where the town is. "And I have a bunch of rings on me, THOUSANDS even. I'll show you 'gentleman' when we get into town! Merlina, you comin'?"

No response.

_-Oh yeah, this part._- Sonic turned around to see Merlina leaning over and picking a flower.

"Why do flowers bloom, knowing they're destined to wither?" She asked him. "Their time of beauty is so short lived..."

_Alright, time to see if getting this across will effect the events of the story._ "Life is about living life to the best you can. 'Better to have loved and lost, than to have never have loved at all', or so they say. Sure the last part of life sucks, but that's why you make everything before it better." Sonic said as he gave as soft and as reassuring of an answer he can give, hoping for the better down the road. _And that's why I want the Scabbard. I wish you could make off with the objects in the book and bring them into real life like I said earlier, that'd be SWEET. Just wear it under some armor and POOF, more of an ultimate lifeform than any scientists named Gerald can create._

She looked at Sonic, then back at the flower. She remained silent.

_-And time to burn my alter-ego personality into her mind._- "Also, you can stop ripping them out of the ground."

"Oh, well yes um..." Merlina stuttered, putting away the flower, and standing up. "I cannot go into town. I will be recognized."

"Alright. See ya later!" Sonic said, rushing down the road with Caliburn in hand.


	4. The Right ot Bear Arms

It has come to my attention by myself that I had accidentally deleted this chapter. MY DERP HAS BEEN UNDONE. I APOLOGIZE. BEGIN READING.

**CHAPTER 3: THE RIGHT OT BEAR ARMS  
**

-_So a mugger walks up to a guy on the street and pulls out a knife and asks him to hand over his money. The guy suddenly grows arms of a bear and slaps his shit. Standing over the dead robber, he shouts aloud, "SECOND AMMENDMENT, MOTHERFUCKER!"_-

Camelot Castle was in the distance. -_It's only a model.-_ Sonic raced along the road to the city's walls.

"Something is wrong here. Better be careful." Caliburn said as Sonic rushed to the drawbridge.

"Alright alright alright." Sonic replied. He knew what was going on, anyway. The City was being under siege, but the civilians apparently didn't care if the guy next to them was armed and about to kill them. And he's never seen a civilian die when hit. -_Man, they're hardcore._-

As he sprinted up to the city gate, three underworld beings spawned. Sonic got past the drawbridge and put Caliburn down. "Hold up, gimmie a sec."

Caliburn watched intently as Sonic beat the three with his fists into unconsciousness. "Is there a reason you are doing that?"

"Yeah hold up." Sonic answered, as he began taking the armor off. "You think you're the only reason we're goin' to the Smithy's? I'm pretty damn sure I'm going to get hit sometime, and when I do, it will hurt. This will be a good temporary solution, other than my jacket and pants. I'll get there in three minutes tops." As he finished he finished putting on the platelegs, and was working on the platebody.

"I don't believe that is a good idea, since it is _cursed_ armor." Caliburn pointed out.

Sonic nodded while finishing up with the platebody. "Yes that's what it's called." Sonic picked Caliburn up and began to stab the underworld beings. "It's just called that because the beings that use them tend to be cursed. Go read a book."

"I sort of can't. Can we just get to the blacksmith?"

"Alright."

Sonic dashed off, now clad in full body armor. He tore through the town. Enemies hardly slowed him down, and civilians avoided the fight. The first time through the town, he was so focused on killing and dodging enemies he didn't really have a chance to admire the architecture of the town. -_Man was it marvelous. I have a soft spot for waterfalls, and this city has tons of them. Why they would have all of them is kind of stupid, and what purpose do they serve? Is it for style or is it the sewage or some crap?_-

_-Whatever, onst with the tale._- He continued to rip and tear through the knights of the underworld, occasionally stopping to take a shot at a goon with his bow. -_It's fun. Could I get these arrows blessed or something? Would that do anything?_-Seeing the shop in sight, Sonic went straight through a group of archers, snatching some arrows in the process. Sonic took off the platebody and platelegs, tossed them aside, and entered the shop.

"'Ello, smithy!" Sonic greeted the blacksmith.

"Hello, sir knight!" The blacksmith

"He's not a knight yet." Caliburn corrected.

Sonic rolled his eyes. "I just put a beat down on King Arthur and _tore_ through the _whole town_. I have to do more knight-worthy things in order for me to rank up, according to this guy here."

"Heh. I never saw a sword that talks before..." the blacksmith commented.

Caliburn smiled. "Well we are a rare kind."

"Anyway," Sonic interrupted as he decided to get down to business. "Caliburn here is getting dull. Mind sharpening it? I'm gonna find something to eat."

Sonic flicked Caliburn around and caught the blade with his heavy metal gauntlet, and offered the handle to the fox.

"Alright!" The blacksmith accepted.

"I'll be back in a bit." Sonic said, grabbing an iron longsword he got from an underworld creature as he left the shop. -_Just in case._-

-_Can I learn magic? If so some woman is going to get Ice Barraged into oblivion when they try to take MY Scabbard. It'd be sweet if my magic abilities carried over. Teleporting from Amy, do a Fire Wave next time I fight Blaze, the possibilities are endless. Oh god, THAT SONG. Oh hell why am I complaining I love ska. ~But how will I know when I get there...~_-

Sonic was immensely disappointed when he found no magic shops.-_Well fuck. There goes that plan. Oh well. It's time to show that sword with my saved seven thousand rings._-

…

The blacksmith wiped the sweat from his brow. Working metal tended to be hard work, as you had to heat the metal and then hammer it and if it gets cold you have to reheat it and hammer it some more and repeat the process if you make a mistake. He set Caliburn on the wooden bench and slumped down in a rocking chair he had.

The door opened, and in walked Sonic.

He was wearing three tall wide brimmed hats, stacked on one another. -_Yes._-

"Uhh... Nice hat...s." Caliburn stammered.

"Ah yes." Sonic said, with a polite tone and a mocked heavy British accent. "My towering pillar of hats. If only I had a mustache and monocle to suit, but the store did not have any, and I, unfortunately, cannot grow a mustache."

Sonic picked up Caliburn and sheathed him. "Anyway," he said to the Blacksmith as his incredibly fake accent faded. "I want to make a deal with you. I know how to design weapons never before seen in this land. I'll tell you how to make them, so you can make them for others, and all you have to do is give me the first one of them that works correctly for free. These are hard to design weapons, and need ammunition which requires a LOT of flint and black powder."

The blacksmith stopped rocking the chair to consider the deal. He had no concept as to how powerful these weapons would be, but thinking about the profits of others...

"Fine," the fox said, resuming to rocking his chair. "if it can be built here, I'm gonna be the one to do it."

"That's the spirit, lad!" Sonic complimented loudly with a pat on the back. "Now, for the first one we're gonna need some wood for the grip of the weapon, metal, and a couple screws."

"A spear?" The two tailed fox asked. "That needs ammunition?"

"A javelin is closer in terms of how it would be used." Sonic stated. "Alright, if you have any paper I'll be drawing schematics."

The blacksmith took a piece of paper from a pile and gave it to Sonic. Sonic began to draw a complex machine, in the fox's eyes. Off to the side he doodled a cylinder shaped object with a rounded top. The fox casually waited around as Sonic drew his machine. Occasionally the fox would wander over and raise an eyebrow to the complex design, that could supposedly be manufactured where he comes from.

In roughly an hour, Sonic finished his blueprints of his first new weapon, and the blacksmith took a look at it.

"Wehehell..." the fox began. "This thing, this, 'Moist Nugget' thing, looks, and sounds... what the fuck am I looking at. Mind explaining what it does?"

"It launches projectiles at amazing speeds. Faster than anything you've seen. You won't even see them." -_Yes it is a gun. Yes, normally I hate guns. No, guns are not part of my MASTER PLAN. Hell I'll probably throw it out after firing it five times. I'd probably throw Caliburn aside at the same time too, and use my bare hands._-

"That'd tear straight through you!" the fox exclaimed.

"Exactly." Sonic said.

"Doesn't that sound, you know, unfair?" Caliburn objected.

"Not too unfair. If they can beat me in a sword fight they can destroy one of these with ease. Although it can function with a shorter barrel, if the receiver gets messed with it won't function. Then they can get me with their sword since I am, from there, unarmed." Sonic counter argued.

"I do not get how that's fair."

Sonic pinched his brows. "I'm playing with my life, you expect me to play fair? Unless I know I cannot lose, then I'd throw it AND you out the window and start kicking them."

"Whatever. Wouldn't you think a bayonet would be a good idea, though?"

"Yeah sure."

For the rest of the day, Sonic drew designs for other weapons, while 'Smithy' worked on the 'Moist nugget'.

...

"It's getting dark out..." Sonic noted.

"Yeah..." the tired blacksmith said lazily, putting the in progress weapon down on the bench. "I should get some sleep. There's an inn nearby for you guy-"

A knock interrupted the blacksmith. Sonic grabbed Caliburn and answered the door. An underworld soldier was at the door, preparing to stab.

Sonic dodged the stab, and slashed at his attacker's arm. He turned around to the being, which was backed up by 2 more, and slashed through it, and the being exploded into smoke. Sonic dashed through the smoke, and kicked one with such force the knight flew down the street into a wall, exploding into smoke just as his friend. Sonic then abused the last one's shock and cut through him.

"Guess I'll be doing some cleaning in town." Sonic said to the blacksmith inside, raising Caliburn to his shoulder.

"Alright. I'll keep the place safe for now." Sonic turned around to see the blacksmith with a poisoned bronze dagger in his hand.-_Now I can understand the dagger, but poison? He wants to kill something, badly. Not very Tails-y... unless that's why I hear him talking to himself about getting a machine gun on the Tornado._-

Sonic turned back around and dashed down the street. He found that the moon was out -_and HUGE. Like, if it had a face, I would be shitting myself thinking IT'S THE DAWN OF THE FINAL DAY._- and it was illuminating the streets, making him able to see the street and others.

-_Can I get any masks around here? Can I get a Skull Kid mask? I would so buy that. Good god fuck that glitched Majora's mask thing on youtube that I saw earlier. I shouldn't have done that._-

He jumped and stabbed his sword into a wall. -_Why would they have streets leading into walls._- He slowly slid down the wall, turning his head to his right he could see the rifts the enemies will come from. He jumped off and dashed toward them. He stopped when the first one hit the ground. He reared Caliburn back, ready for a slash.

He leaped forward, slashing through the enemy with ease and without losing speed. He kicked off of the body before it disappeared and hit the next one, and the one behind it.

"OH YEAH!" He shouted, as he leaped toward another wall and stabbed Caliburn into it. He slid down and saw another dark rift. He leaped off and got there before an enemy could hit the ground.

He sliced and diced through town, leaving the town stunned at how well he was managing to do all this. Slashing through people without losing speed, stabbing straight through shields, and moving from enemy attacks while getting his own off on every one was a sight to see that night. He eventually made it onto the town's walls, dicing at enemies on there. When they were all gone, Sonic scanned the city for something that could be an inn.

"I ain't seein' an inn..." Sonic pointed out. "Maybe we should go back to Smithy's."

"Yes. If you sleep as hard as you fight, at least he'll be able to protect us, to an extent." Caliburn commented. Caliburn had saw the dagger too, sure that he trained with it once in a while.

Sonic nodded. "Alright."

He turned and dashed back to the shop.

Sonic opened the door, and the fox, reacted to the door opening, began to flick the dagger around in his fingers, but halted to a stop when he saw it was Sonic.

"Oh! Hey. What's the matter?" The blacksmith asked.

Sonic walked in. "Didn't see an inn, mind if we crash here?"

"Uh, yeah... sure." the blacksmith answered. -_Definitely not Tails at all. Where's all the charisma in the guy?_-

"Thanks. Where can I sleep for the night?"

"Uh, I dunno." The fox said as he got up, and headed for a door. "On the floor I guess."

"He's worked hard today, he didn't even exaggerate that much. Is there anything better for him to-"

Sonic rolled his eyes and put Caliburn on the table. "Yeesh, I'm just going to sleep on the floor. It's not like I'm going to be fending off the whole underworld, every other knight on Earth, and Genghis Khan."

"Well yes but I think you deserve a better rest."

"There will be time for that when I'm back at my house." Sonic said, shrugging. "Besides, I've done much more in a day than this one. Just let me get some sleep, Smithy's got some work to do too."

"Well, if that's how you want it." Caliburn said.

The fox walked out of the room into his bedroom, and shut the door.

"Good night." Sonic replied as he got on the carpet a few feet from the fireplace, turning his head to the fire burn and crisp the wood.

He stared at the flames, feeling his body get heavier. As he watched the fire dance, he wondered about how much would happen the next day.

He had a fight with Lancelot, or Shadow, tomorrow, but he was more than prepared. He had a rifle ready for him. He heard something about "Gawain and Lancelot's rift" would bring ruin to the Round Table. So, the answer was simple: Kill one of them, let the other live. He may use the gun to kill Lancelot, depending on how Lancelot acts during the fight. If he hears faker, knave, or any insult, he will skip the sword fight, shoot him and take his helmet. He had something in mind with the helmet.

The fight with Gawain would be much simpler now. If he didn't scare him with the fact that he blew Lancelot to pieces, he would fight with the bayonet he'll have on the rifle -_Mosin Nagant for anyone wondering, or, as I named it, 'Moist Nugget', teehee._- and then just tell him he can live if he gives him his axes.

Percival... he had a game for that. He would challenge her to a duel before she could, so he could make the rules. _-If I lost, I could still beat her with my bare hands. I mean, I did that before, any reason why I couldn't do it again?-_ He didn't know what the rules would be, though. He has to think about that.

He thought about it for a moment, but then it drifted off to the thought of how warm the fire felt. -_I like fire. Just kept under control. I like the nice crispy smell of something lightly burnt. I like how you can sleep just about anywhere just so long as you have a fire. It's useful. When under control._-

He stared into the fire, letting the warmth take over him. He stared...

… and stared...

… and stared...

… and slept.


	5. Dreamcast

**CHAPTER 4: DREAMCAST**

Sonic was sitting around a camp fire _-Merlina's corpse. I will SO do that.-_ on top of the sleeping dragon with Gawain, Lancelot and Percival, guitar in hand, calmly strumming.

"It takes a while to be trained with one of these, and plus no one here knows how to take care of these wounds it causes, so I'm sure as hell not giving any of you guys the boomstick." Sonic explained. He liked 'reading' the book. It was like playing an adventure you can go back and play like a video game, find other paths and ways to do things. He wasn't going to read any books based off more recent times. He liked being the best guy with the best weapon.

"What? You don't trust us?" Lancelot grumbled.

"No, it's just that if someone is quick to judge, they are quick to shoot, without bothering to hear them out. Imagine beating a thief down for stealing your money, some guard walks up to you and stabs you in the back because he thinks you were stealing from him. I'll be leaving tomorrow or the next day, back to where I came from, so I'll be appointing Gawain as the king until someone else speaks up with a better idea." Sonic lectured.

"Great!" Gawain exclaimed.

Some time passed. The sun had fully set. The sky was a nice purplish color, with the stars twinkling and the sun just under the horizon. Gawain, Lancelot, and the dragon were all asleep, Merlina had stopped burning, it was just Sonic strumming a couple tunes on the guitar, with Percival listening quietly.

"So... you're going home tomorrow?" Percival asked. "Your real home?"

Sonic shrugged. "Yeah. Sucks a bit. Sure it's more advanced technology wise, but I got this fangirl breathing down my neck, a copy cat that thinks he's better than me at everything, a crazy doctor trying to take over the world every other week, and only a thousand 'most powerful creatures' and 'incredible forces' to put to sleep. Not to mention all the other fan girls."

Percival got up and sat closer to Sonic. "That sounds terrible."

"Not that bad though. I'm not a fan of using weapons and stuff, so I only used them here to get going fast. I have this 'shapeshifting master of darkness' to put up with. He got me in this place to begin with. I was planning to use one of the cursed books that my friend gave me, but then I realized I had brought the wrong book and tossed it aside. He threw me in the book right before I finished him off." Sonic explained. -_Dude I fought Aku._-

"Oh... well do you think it'll be of any use trying to fight back if he'll just toss you back in here?"

"Not alone. That's why I'm still on the dragon. I'm bringing it with me, along with the Scabbard, to the real world." Sonic answered. "Maybe you guys too, if you don't fall or something."

"Do you want to go back?"

"Eh, I don't really care. It's just the same shit on a different day. This world is decent though. It's such a break from the normal. What would be the fan girl here is polite and _not chasing_ me, my faker can at least work with me, the doc is no where to be seen, I killed both the 'mystical beings' in this world, and I don't have to worry about this giant military company chasing me for the stuff I accidentally did to them for getting in the way."

"How about this..." she said, her voice changing from normal to seductive. "You can stay in our world."

Sonic simply stared at her. -_WAIT A SECOND. Percival's not Rouge. SOMETHIN' AIN'T RIGHT. Hey wait a second, I never fought Aku to begin with, but shit I WISH I did..._-

"You only have to do one _liiiiittle_ thing for me..." she said as she giggled and leaned closer.

_-This is a dream isn't it. This is how all my nightmares start. All good stuff, then some weird stuff, then some I JYNXED IT FUCK._-Sonic slammed his eyes shut. -_WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP DAMMIT..._-

There was a pause.

_-...No. Actually..._-

"NOPE." Sonic answered before she could say anything. He opened eyes, to see Percival somewhat disappointed, tilting her head before leaning back again. -_MISSION ACCOMPLISHED, LUCID DREAM IN PROGRESS._-

"Oh..." the cat said, in a disappointed and confused tone. "Well, uh..."

Sonic tossed an arm around her shoulder. "But what would you do? Gawain would be the king, Lancelot and him would fight over it, would you really want to deal with that? Tell ya what. How about, instead of me staying here, how about you come over here? We already have so many people over there, you'd hardly be noticed." Sonic explained.

"Hmm... Sure. Heh..."

Percival chuckled a bit, before turning to the pile of ash that was once Merlina. She lit the ashes on fire. There was an audible moan coming from the ashes. Percival put her hand on Sonic's shoulder. Feeling relieved, he closed his eyes.

~NOW THIS IS A STORY ALL ABOUT HOW MY LIFE GOT FLIPPED TURNED UPSIDE DOWN~

He felt that he was spinning.

-_oh god what_-

He opened his eyes to see that he was in a spinning purple chair, suspended on a wall with graffiti all over it. In horror of his mind randomly straying from what he wanted, he grabbed the sides of his face and began pulling down in shock, but immediately stopped in fear of tearing off his own face.

~NOW I'D LIKE TO TAKE A MINUTE JUST SIT RIGHT THERE, AND I'LL TELL YOU HOW I BECAME THE PRINCE OF A TOWN CALLED BEL-AIR.~

Suddenly the wall collapsed behind him, Sonic took a look to see that the chair was on a motor that was spinning, and the motor is on a beam, which is being held up by a catapult. -_Note to self: NEVER CLOSE YOUR EYES IN A DREAM AGAIN._-

After being flung across the sky in his perpetually pirouetting pimpin' purple pop-culture chair on a stick, Sonic decided to get out of the chair, and on the ground before he reached Bel-Air.

Sonic smashed into the ground, unsure where he was. He got up and dusted himself off.

"I just HAD to think of Bel-Air." Sonic muttered to himself, throwing the purple hat to the ground and stomping on it. "Dream was going down ever since the beginning. The crashing plane started turning up when I got lucid, but then GOD DAMN LIGHTNING STRIKES and I crash land in Bel-Air. I want my own sitcom." Sonic then took the moment to realize where he was.

He was on Shadow Moses.

There was Metaknight, Solid Snake, and Lucario.

Metal Gear Rex just bursted through the Shadow Moses Nuclear Storage Facility. It was holding 2 missiles, and was charging its' railgun.

"_LIQUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIID_!" Snake said, quickly aging in the process.

"_**SNAAAAAAAAAAAKE**_!" Said Liquid from inside Rex, getting ready to smash the missiles together.

"LUCARIO!" Lucario said, charging up lasers to shoot at the missiles.

"_KIRRRRRBEEEEEEE_!" Kirby said, taking off Metaknight's mask.

"Son of a bitch."


	6. Make Weapons and Get Into Fights

**CHAPTER 5: MAKE WEAPONS AND GET INTO FIGHTS**

Sonic quickly got up.

"Bad dream?" Caliburn asked.

"Worse, good dream went bad." Sonic complained. "I'd rather have a full length nightmare than have a decent lucid dream shit on itself.

"Care to tell what happened?"

"I'd rather not."

"Anyway, I'm almost done with the 'Moist Nugget' thing. After that you need ten of the rounds?"

"Yeah I don't plan on using it much. Kill guys that would normally take like ten hits to kill in one shot, it'll give Arthur a surprise, and after that I can make sure followers will follow."

Caliburn rolled his eyes. "That sure is not much different from King Arthur."

"I don't intend to stay in this land much longer. I'll be going home, bringing as much as I can with me."

"... Why?"

"Because it'll be fun. Anyway, I need to eat." Sonic turned to the blacksmith. "Anything you got?"

"Nah, I went out to eat. Go in town, should be cleared of goons by now." The blacksmith said over his shoulder.

"Kay." Sonic got up and left the workshop. He walked through the streets, now appreciating the structure of the city. -_Y'know I wish those cities I always see artwork on the internet existed. Boatways through modern/futuristic cities, buildings connected by walkways over nothing, and stores sky high with apartments next to 'em, all in the same place, I could settle down there. Fuck I'm getting offtopic._- Sonic saw the place he was at yesterday, Boar's Head Tavern, and rushed in.

In the bar there were a bunch of people there for an early drink or breakfast. First one was a purple weasel hunter with an oversized fang, -_Fang the Sniper.-_ a large beige polar bear with gauntlets and a scarf, -_Bark the Polar Bear._- a yellow cat with black hair wearing red and black robes, -_... Beats me. I think I remember the description though... Didn't Amy tell me about how she beat a catgirl up for me just before that one championship started? Oh wow I think that's her._- a green duck with a handkerchief and an eyepatch _-Bean, but... eyepatch?_- were sitting at the bar. The men all had beer, the bear had a keg of it half empty, while the woman just sat there with an empty shotglass.

"Oi, lad!" The duck shouted with a drunken slur.

"Uh, hi."

"Wutz yer name, I recall ye here yesturday..."

"Sonic. Sonic the hedgehog. Fastest thing alive. Yourself?"

"Ah, me name's Degroot. The purple guy's Sax, big guy's Al, an' tha gal's Rachel."

The weasel spoke up with his also accented voice, this time Australian. "And that's quite a statement you made there, hmm?" -_Y'know, Aussie accents ain't bad . Normally you'd think of higher pitched voices, but Fang's got the deep voice to turn a normally silly voice badass._-

"Yea, but it's true. I'm faster than you, I'm sure." Sonic gloated as he sat down at the bar.

"Judgin' by ya looks, maybe. But, you armored or anythin'?"

"Yea, me n' Rockay ovah here saw ya tear through town yestaday, wearin onna dem cursed armors. Ya ain't wearin' em now. Any protection of yer own or are ya fast but weak?" Al asked. -_He had an accent. I can't begin to pinpoint where the hell he's from. Just try to imagine him saying that with a 'big dumb happy lug' voice, except not as stupid as Big._-

Sonic paused. "Ditched the cursed one for health reasons. I'm gettin' the smithy in town to get me one."

"Anything else?" Rachel asked. -_No accent. Okay, so the team is slightly normal. Or does it just make it more stereotypical? I think too much and talk too less._-

"Uh yeah, sharpen the sword I used, getting a couple handy weapons, and other stuff. Gonna see the lady of the lake today, get in a couple fights, and get things done."

"What kinda fights? I think we can help with 'em. Oh, an' my full name's Saxton. Saxton Hale."

Sonic paused for a second, contemplating whether or not it would be a good idea to share his plans. "Black Knight and his goons."

"Woah, fuck man." Saxton commented. "That's a tough job."

"Yeah, it'll be okay, I could handle it without a sword." Sonic replied as he chuckled.

As he opened his eyes, Sonic saw Fang's signature smirk on Saxton's face as he began to speak. "Ya up for a bet, then?"

"Wha-WAIT WHAT." Sonic stammered.

"C'mon. You win ya get us to help you out and we'll trample the fucker. We win you'll do us a favor."

"What's the favor?"

"This guy called fer me in the middle of the street, and asked me if I could do one small favor." The weasel began as he leaned back in the bar chair. "This 'one small favor' turned out to be this wild goose chase across the map. The last guy I talked to told me that I hafta help the city out from its gang problem, and I ain't gonna do that shit I already spent 3 months doing this 'small favor' of that one bastid's, and I'm _sure_ there's gonna be _even MORE_ fuckers if I kept tryin'. So why not get a faster guy?"

"I don't blame ya man." Sonic replied with a cocked eyebrow. "Christ you better be payed well for that."

"Ye, if ya take this bet 'n I win you know you ain't getting' paid, right?" Saxton asked.

_If I win, I get a bunch of henchmen so I don't have to DO EVERYTHING like I said before. If I lose... well fuck._

"Sure, why not. I could use some buddies other than this annoying talking sword I have." _There's a gang, right? I bet they do drugs. And I bet that Silver guy is the leader. _

"That's the spirit!" Saxton said hopping out of his chair. "I'll wait for ya."

Sonic got out of the chair, and cracked his neck. _The first ever bar fight you get into is with a leader of an armed gang while you only have your fists. Way to go, slugga._

"Ready?" The weasel asked. _I love how the bartender not only just watches us fight, but bets on someone. I think it was me. Whatever._

"Yeah. Bring it on!"

Saxton threw the first punch, right for the head. Sonic ducked under that, grabbed his arm, and sent an uppercut to Saxton's jaw. Saxton made the attack connect lighter by swinging his knee with Sonic's arm. He was spun a bit, Sonic saw another punch coming from the spin, but reacted late. He got hit, -_The hell I thought this was medieval times. Why the hell does Sax have guns like THEM?_- but quickly recovered. He waited for Saxton's next attack.

Another punch flew. Sonic pushed this one aside and sent a punch to the gut, getting in closer. Saxton reacted by quickly trying to bring his arms back. Sonic grabbed his ear and pulled the weasel away as he reared up his fist. Saxton did the same and let out a punch much quicker than Sonic. However, this one failed to reach Sonic -_Sums up Australians well. Small but they got some fight in 'em._- Sonic launched a punch at Saxton, hitting him right in his nose.

Saxton recoiled a bit, and he decided to use his size to his advantage. He grabbed Sonic's arm and jumped, and swung. This forced Sonic to bend over, and Saxton kicked as his shins mid swing, causing Sonic to face plant on the floor.

Sonic rolled onto his back to see Saxton in the middle of getting up. He launched both his feet to his backside and sent him flying into a table. Sonic rolled himself back up and began to walk over to the table. Saxton had slid over and off the table, but he turned around when friction slowed him down. Saxton lifted the table, -_YEESH._- and began pushing it. Sonic began to back up, and then he charged it.

It was almost at a standstill, with Saxton and Sonic pushing from both sides. Sonic knew he had to get rid of Saxton's improvised Spartan Shield, but how to do that...

Sonic began to lift the table with one foot a little bit off the ground..

The table went over Sonic with Saxton still pushing. -_Time to see if I can do this like that Military Guy __did back at that festival I went to about a year ago. It's SHOW TIME!_- Sonic did a quick punch at Saxton, landing it in the cheek. Before he could wander off, Sonic launched another punch with his other hand in the face. Again before Saxton could move much, Sonic had flung a leg up to head height, connecting with the side of his head. Sonic watched as the weasel spun around and stumbled for a bit. -_Fuck yeah._-

As Sonic walked over, Saxton spun around and did a punch to the chest. Sonic got hit and stumbled backward. Saxton stepped forward and punched again. Sonic raised his hands to stop the punch, but it blasted him back further. Saxton stepped forward again threw another punch. Sonic backflipped to dodge it.

Sonic began a spindash -_Did I ever spindash during the first runthrough? No? Time to make up for that._-, and launched it quickly. This attack caught Saxton off guard and he flew backward as Sonic barreled through. Saxton rolled back onto his feet, using his tail to help stop the momentum. He turned around as Sonic was rolling out of a ball and ran. Sonic turned around to see a flying kick heading toward him.

Sonic turned around and began another spindash.

Saxton landed in the middle of a curse word in the middle of his regret, and narrowly dodged this next spindash. He ran up, but he didn't try attacking like that again.

Sonic got up and was immediately greeted with a kick to the pelvis. He flew onto the ground on his back, and saw Saxton about to do a jumping curb stomp on him. Sonic quickly brought his feet up to his head, and Saxton landed on them. Sonic then kicked Saxton into a wall. Sonic got up and walked over to Saxton. Saxton tried kicking back, but Sonic jumped over his legs. Sonic kicked Saxton back into the wall, flipping him in the process, and began to step on his back and neck.

Saxton couldn't pull or kick him off. Trying to roll didn't work. So, he began to do a pushup.

The sudden change in balance that wasn't left and right caught Sonic off guard, and he fell off. Sonic tried to get up but Saxton quickly flung a kick to his inner thigh. Saxton grabbed his hat and crawled on top of Sonic and began punching Sonic. After taking a few hits, Sonic flipped it over, put his knees on Saxton's arms and unleashed a fury of hits against the weasel. The weasel was being hit so much, he was being stunned.

Sonic slowed down the punches. Eventually, he got up.

Saxton stayed there, staring at the hedgehog. It looked like he didn't fight back, and was about to _explode _in rage. But then, he smirked, and shrugged.

"You're pretty good." the beat up weasel said in a complimenting tone as he began to clap. "That's some nice fightin' there."

Sonic rubbed his nose. He saw blood there. He honestly didn't feel it at all. "Yeah, you kicked some of my ass, too."

"Welp, guess that one small favor ain't gettin' done." The weasel chuckled.

Sonic laughed along with him, and stuck his hand out. "Nope."

Saxton grabbed the hand, and pulled himself up. "Well guys," he said as he turned around. "Guess we're fightin' the king."

Bark growled as he handed the bartender twenty rings, who looked at the combatants. "First ya gotta clean up your mess. I'd like to take this moment to say your table flipping skills are remarkable."

"What?" Saxton complained..

"Hey, I'm being nice." The bartender said, pocketing the rings. "I let people do whatever the hell they want here this early, so long as they fix what they break. Boss don't come till seven, and you guys wouldn't want him to know you twos got into a fight, would ya?"

"Fine, fine." Saxton said as he walked over to the flipped over table. "Help me with this."

"'Sides, I don't get paid much. In fact the reason drinks cost more when boss isn't here is 'cus he pays dirt." The bartender continued, moments later being pelted by a napkin ball.

After eating, a couple of quick stops, and being followed by four mercenaries, he returned to the Blacksmith's workshop.

"Hey Smithy! Brought some friends." Sonic shouted.

The blacksmith turned around in his chair over the workbench. He saw the three men and catgirl and looked at Sonic. "Mercenaries?"

"Really?" Caliburn asked.

"So I don't have to do everything." Sonic assured.

"Alright, but still. Mercenaries?" Caliburn continued, with a somewhat disappointed tone.

"Whatever. Anyway, the Moist Nugget is done, I'm busy on the last three rounds. After that I'll fix up this... _Boom stick_? What's the deal with these names, anyway?"

Sonic chuckled. "Jokes from where I come from. When will the rounds be done?"

"It should be done in an hour or so," the blacksmith answered. "I've gotten used to how it works."

"Alright. I have a special request for the last 2 rounds." Sonic said pulling out a bag.

The two tailed fox watched as Sonic pulled out 2 large gems. He saw a black gem and a purple gem.

"Make these the bullets."

The blacksmith paused. "Not my specialty, gem-work, but I can try."

"Alright." Sonic said, leaving the workshop back into town.


	7. Mister Fancypants

**CHAPTER 6: MISTER FANCYPANTS**

After a few hours, Sonic was prepared for his adventure again. He dashed along the dirt road past several civilians.

Caliburn began to speak. "If I'm not mistaken, the Lady of the Lake lives somewhere-"

"Up ahead." Sonic finished.

Sonic stopped when five enemies came out of the air grouped together. He jumped and spun, slashing the three lined in a row. Behind them was a cart. He hopped on it and ditched the other two goons as the horse neighed and rode off. Sonic sat on the side of the cart, with Caliburn in hand still.

"I think there's enemies following us." Caliburn noted.

"Yeah, they can't catch up really. They have to jump, then I'll slay 'em."

The blue swordsman -_or swordsHOG huehuehuehue_- sliced the three that attempted to attack him. The horse rode on deeper into the forest, where more enemies ambushed Sonic. Regardless of their numbers Sonic bashed them all back.

Sonic suddenly felt light. He looked around to see the horse and the cart in the air. The horse was whimpering as it flew to the ground. The horse broke off the cart and ran off, while Sonic jumped off before it crashed and landed near the wreckage. He ran forward and demolished through the enemies in front of him. He skid to a halt, and then raised one foot.

Then, in a cartoony fashion, he dashed off at a blurring speed. He couldn't tell if he had hurt any enemies from there, his vision was blurred due to the sheer speed that he was traveling at, while he was sure that even if he didn't collide into any enemies the sonic boom would blow them away. -_Sonic Booom, Sonic Booom, Sonic Booom..._-

He stopped going at blinding speeds at a fort of some sort. He slashed through the guards there, skid through the pots to collect whatever could be in them, and dashed out as quick as he got in.

He crossed a bridge and entered a weird part of the forest. The glow of the fungus illuminated the trees with a sickly purple look. From the tree branches swung huge spiked balls. -_I'd love to see the guy that set these thorns in my side. Didn't Lancelot set these? Knight of the cart or some stupid shit like that?_-

As he walked up to the goal sign, Sonic was examining what he had found. He got some junk, but he also found a steel dagger.

"This will be handy." Sonic said, flicking the dagger around with his left hand, before finally placing it in the sheathe on his back.

Sonic saw the entrance in sight, across, but thought for a moment. -_Okay, I could completely skip the Lancelot fight, or I could beat him senseless... well, people don't play Role playing games for a quick game with no action, so may as well take my time._-

Sonic walked around the lake, when he knew could have just dashed across it, fully aware of what he was getting himself into.

After a moment in the forest, he heard the bushes rustle. -_HMM I WONDER WHO IT COULD BE._-

Sonic looked around a tree, and saw, lo and behold, a black and red hedgehog with a helmet and a curved sword. -_What kind of sword is that? Scimitar? Can't be, it's too big. Claymore? Nah, it's curved... WHO DESIGNED HIS SWORD? And WHY IS HE HOLDING IT BACKHANDED, that seems like a great way to break your wrist. But, knowing Shadow, he probably messes with his wrist daily, so I guess Lancelot has adapted to it._-

"I have found you, apprentice knight, enemy of my king!" The black hedgehog said.

"Well hello Mister Fancypants."

"Sonic, you idiot, you are facing Lancelot, one of the strongest knights of the table, and you're being fresh?" Caliburn objected. -_Fucking. Bel-air._-

"Your sword is right. I am the strongest. I've heard about how well you fight, and I am about to put you to a test." Lancelot said, bringing out his sword. "I challenge you to a duel!"

"I got news for you pal, you ain't leaving but two things right now, Jack and shit, and Jack left town." Sonic answered.

Lancelot grunted. "Is that a yes?"

"Yes, no, whatever, you are gonna lose either way."

"How dare a knave like you underestimate me like that!" Lancelot shouted. -_He called me a knave. YOU KNOW WHAT I DO TO PEOPLE WHO CALL ME KNAVE, RIGHT GUYS?-_

Sonic cracked his fingers, swung his arms around, and tossed Caliburn aside.

"What?" The sword and the swordsman exclaimed in unison.

Sonic reached for his back. He pulled out a long wooden and metal object. It looked like a miniature cannon with a small blade on the end.

"Everything allowed, right? Fight for life?"

Sonic's enemy stammered. "Yes..."

"ALRIGHTY THEN!" Sonic boomed. He operated the bolt and pulled it out, opening a compartment. He then took a metal object, with an Onyx gemstone at the tip, paused, and looked at his rival. "This one has your name on it." He loaded it and pushed the bolt back into place. He flicked the bayonet, gripped the gun as if it were a lance. -_CUE BATTLE MUSIC!_-

Sonic leaped forward and tried to stab Lancelot quickly. Lancelot deflected it, and sent Sonic rolling to his side.

Sonic rolled back onto his feet. Lancelot was delivering a downward slash, Sonic positioned the rifle just right so it deflected to Sonic's side.

Sonic used this moment to kick his foe, pushing him away, and leaving him open. Sonic began to lunge for a stab again.

Lancelot saw the move coming, and used the momentum from Sonic's kick to roll away from the blade. Sonic looked up and saw him doing another downward slash.

Sonic rushed forward and put a free hand in the way to stop Lancelot's blow from the hilt, and then smacked him with the butt of the rifle.

Sonic took the opportunity to lunge forward again. Lancelot, with no speed to roll away, quickly reacted by slapping the bayonet to the side, and bringing his large sword as his foe's knees.

Sonic flipped over the swipe, and jabbed his opponent in the side of the face with the stock with a great deal of force. Lancelot backpedaled a bit, with his free hand up to his nose, removing it to show blood dripping from it.

Sonic began to lunge again, wanting to stab him before shooting. His enemy thought of a way he could use it to his advantage. He deflected the bayonet, and then sent a punch to Sonic's cheek with his free hand. Sonic stumbled a bit, but regained control and ducked under Lancelot's attack. He lunged at Lancelot from below.

Lancelot leaned back to avoid the potentially lethal blow, but it knocked his face guard up, and kept on going. The knight of the round table fell onto his back, and scrambled to get up. Sonic sent the bayonet at his enemy's chest, not piercing the armor fully but getting there. This pushed Lancelot back further. He rolled onto his back and jumped to his feet.

Lancelot dashed toward Sonic, his teeth gritted and his sword reared back for a stab. Sonic was ready to simply tap it aside and stab him, breaking through the armor this time. What Lancelot did was different. He flicked the sword upward at the last few feet and jumped. He was going for another downward strike, an unblockable one, at that. Sonic rolled to the side and let his foe slam his sword into the ground and curse under his breath.

Sonic quickly swung the bayonet at him from the side. To Sonic's surprise and delight, it connected. It didn't cut too deep, but it sent Lancelot spinning on his feet. Sonic took his time rearing his rifle back and lunging it into his enemy's stomach as he turned around to face him. He closed his eyes tight.

_-~...Swaying to the symphony, of DESTRU-UCTION!~ Okay, enough of that._-

Sonic smiled as he heard the breath slide out of his foe's mouth. This vicious smile faded when he opened his eyes saw the bayonet slide out of his foe's stomach. Blood leaked out like a broken pipe onto the hedgehog's legs. -_It was just disgusting. THUS WHY I DON'T USE GUNS AND STUFF IN REAL LIFE. People's insides don't spew all over you when you beat them up._-

"YUCK!" Sonic said, kicking his leg away trying to get the blood off it. "Gonna have to take a bath, god damn."

"Fffuuuuck..." Lancelot groaned, clutching the wound and dropping to his knees. His body wouldn't move, everything was tensed up.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot." Sonic pointed out. He rose his rifle and aimed it at the dying knight. "That was much more disgusting than I had thought it would be. Sorry." _-You know when something you did is fucking disgusting when you apologize to the enemy you did it to.- _

"... Yooouu-"

PAK

Lancelot fell back, with a large hole in his head, with small pieces scattered around and blood spewing out of the hole. His helmet rolled off to the side, at the edge of the pool of blood. Sonic picked up the sword, and walked over to the helmet to pick it up.Sonic felt something coming up his throat as he looked back down at his slain enemy.

"Ugh..." Sonic commented, walking over to where he tossed Caliburn aside. As he walked over there his whole body shook for a moment.

"Sonic..." Caliburn began, also mildly disgusted from the sudden and devastating damage the weapon did. "That was..."

"Brutal." Sonic finished. He picked up Caliburn with one hand, Lancelot's sword in the other, and his helmet under his arm. "I need to wash off first. I look like I just walked knee deep in the dead."

"Hmm, yes." Caliburn replied. "Wouldn't want to look like a barbarian in front of her, would you?"

"Nah." Sonic sighed as he walked not a foot deep into the lake, and plopped down. "Dunno why you care so much. If a barbarian walked up to her and ask how to defeat the Scabbard's power right now, I'm sure she'd react the same."

"Well at least try to make a good impression."

-_It was... different, than what I had expected. Didn't feel 'me'. I know it's not supposed to, but IT'S NOT FUN._- Sonic filled the helmet with water as he kicked his legs around in the water a bit, shaking off the blood. "The only time _you_ should care about making good impressions on women is when I swing you at one."

Caliburn paused, for a moment seemingly defeated. Sonic spilled the water out of the helmet. After it was cleaned, he put it away. Caliburn grunted. He knew what Sonic was saying wasn't right, but he couldn't really argue against it.

"She doesn't like the hero, oh well. Haters gonna hate. I mean, what's she going to do 'bout it, right?"

Sonic got up out of the lake and jogged in place to shake the water of his legs. He then grabbed Caliburn and began to walk around the lake.


	8. Have Fun at Someone Else's Expense

**CHAPTER 7: HAVE FUN AT SOMEONE ELSE'S EXPENSE**

The entrance's archway was lit up by blue lights and a railing on the side of the bridge into the lake had similar blue lights. _-The heck are those lights anyway?- _He saw a pink hedgehog wearing a blue dress. _-Okay, I read up on the Arthurian tales before I went in. Now I know EVERYTHING, and you have been warned about spoilers. I bet Nimue was pissed that I just killed her 'adopted' son. And when I say 'adopted', I mean KIDNAPPED.- _ Nimue was waiting there. She turned around to greet them, and her eyes looked like they had bags.

"I've been waiting for you, Knight from another world." Nimue said, her voice calm and controlled. It seemed like she was trying too hard to accomplish that, though. "I think I know why you're here. It's about Excalibur, isn't it?"

While she was talking, Sonic took the time to crack his neck rather audibly. "Yup. I like how you're straight to the point."

Nimue walked up to the small pool of water she had on the shrine. Sonic followed suit, and sat down on a bench that circled it.

"I'll tell you how to hinder the Scabbard's power of immortality. I'm the one who gave it to him, so it's kind of my fault, see?" Nimue explained. "But still... whoever defeats King Arthur and takes the scabbard might end up turn out the same way, right?"

"Alright. And?" Sonic questioned.

"So I have three tests for you." _-I never got why I had to do tests. Since I already know how to do it, can't I just ditch her? Nah that would be too assy.- _"Would you like to hear them?"

Sonic complained. "Why don't you just tell me and I bring it to you so someone you don't trust doesn't have their hands on it, yeesh. I'll give you Caliburn if you don't trust me with the Scabbard and a weapon. Whatever. I guess I'll go for it."

She glared at him for a moment, _-Oh yeah she's mad.-_ before continuing. "First, free the innocents from King Arthur's dungeon. Second, offer compassion to those in need. Third, defeat King Arthur and the knights of the underworld."

Sonic opened his mouth to complain again. "I can't defeat King Arthur while he has his Scabbard, Nimue."

Nimue was visibly trying to hold back something, by the look on her face.

"Oh stop acting like all wise." Caliburn whispered.

"You have three days." _-I did it in one the first time.- _"Good luck."

With that, she started to shimmer out of vision. -_You know what fuck it all. Time to switch into MAXIMUM TROLLERDRIVE._-

"Why not tell me to defeat the Knights of the Round Table first, I already blew that smug asshole Lancelot's face off, I'm a third of the way there." Sonic said to Caliburn very loudly. -_WORTH EVERY SECOND OF IT._-

"_RRAAAAAAGHHH_!" A bloodcurdling scream from behind Sonic and Caliburn roared as Nimue stopped fading away. "YOU IGNORANT SLOB! YOU DID THAT TO MY SON AND YOU HAVE THE GUTS TO CALL HIM AN ASSHOLE!"

_SHE MAD. Also ALLCAPS. _

"Sonic you _fool_!" Caliburn insulted

"Woah woah woah WHAT? He was your son? He looked way too old, heck almost older than you. What happened there?" Sonic stammered, trying to play dumb, and doing good at it too.

"I raised him up as a knight to become part of the Round Table." Nimue answered.

"That much I can figure out myself. But how did you get him? He looked way too old for it to be natural."

The lady of the lake stammered. "I... I..." _~"But sometimes that just, ain't enough, to keep a man like me INTRESTED. Oh no, no way, uh uh. No I gotta go, out and have fun, at someone else's expense. Yeah yeah, yeah yeah, YEAH YEAH YEAH!"~_

"Kidnapped?"

"GO AWAY!" Nimue screamed, shimmering back into view and raising a hand to smack Sonic across the face. Sonic grabbed her arm.

"Do you want Arthur dead, or can I just find another dragon and ride it into the sky back to my home?" Sonic asked. "Because I'm sure there's gonna be another guy as good as me -if not better- to come along with the same goal in mind that will go on a wild goose chase to find out how to kill the King, while he rapes and pillages the whole world."

"Sonic! Stop that _now_!" Caliburn interjected.

Sonic changed his view to Caliburn. "I'm the hero, I think I should be treated with respect."

"But she's trying to help!"

"Yeah, but while she's putting me on a quest to continue my quest, King Arthur kills more and more people. Those who die are other people's fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters..." Sonic stopped to look at Nimue, pushing her hand down to her side. "...Sons."

"... Fine!" Nimue admitted defeat, with a tear rolling down her eye. "But..."

"I'm listening."

"... You must bring it to me IMMEDIETLY."

"Can I leave with it?"

"What?"

"I asked if I can go back to my world with the Scabbard? There is this guy that keeps on trying to take over my world and this would really help. Especially if I already thrash the guy."

Nimue stared at Sonic, debating to herself if she should trust that.

"Besides, Merlina knows her stuff. She wouldn't pick an average Joe to save this world from evil. She'd get someone experienced. Unfortunately, for you AND me, I was not overqualified for that position."

"What do you intend to do with it, specifically?" Caliburn questioned.

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Okay let's see. The guy has thousands of minions he just keeps on making, the guy made a clone of me out of metal, he built a giant base in the sky, and recently he keeps on summoning giant ancient monsters to do the work for him, almost monthly, which turn against him, and then he turns and fights alongside me. I win without the Scabbard's help. I could do it all like two times faster if I had the Scabbard."

"I..." The girl stammered. "... I guess you can take it. But..."

Sonic raised an eyebrow.

"You must do a blood pact. You leave with the Scabbard, it shall not come back. If you break it you have no powers, no speed, no Scabbard, nothing."

"Fine by me." Sonic said, relieved. -_That didn't go like I had hoped. It was disappointing. Good idea, pissing her off, but I fucked up somewhere, making my kind-of-an-asshole alias sound like more of an asshole villain than I had hoped. Next time, just be nice. Wait, no. NEXT RUN I WILL BE A LADYKILLER. YES. Oh my god I am just too good._-

…

A couple hours later, Sonic was ignoring Caliburn's extremely large and anger-filled rant on how Sonic acted around Nimue as they walked back into the Blacksmith's shop. -_To be honest I couldn't give a shit and a half. I'll do the tasks anyway for free, anyway. What I did was just... I dunno how to put it. It felt good when I first did it, but after some arguing... Feels bad man._-

Sonic shrugged. "Look, I honestly don't care about your bitching, I'm still going to do it, I always was, and your lecturing isn't doing it faster. I just felt like being an ass then. But, I hate using the cold logic I did then..."

Caliburn outbursted in response. "You feel like an idiot for doing that! Exactly! Next time you meet her I want you to apologize for the-"

"Who are you, my mother?"

The fox put the hammer down and spun around in his chair. "What happened?"

"The sword that's been stuck in a rock for the last century or so thinks he knows how to deal with people." Sonic commented.

"When you put it like that, it does sound stupid," Caliburn replied. "But the fact that you acted like a jackass to the Lady of the Lake, the entire time, just because you wanted to, is even MORE stupid!"

"Well I was feeling cold. I just blew this guy's head to bits, got covered in his blood, and then learn later that I just killed her SON that she might have kidnapped, I don't know, she never answered, so yeah I was in a pretty bad mood."

The blacksmith nodded as Sonic explained. "Delightful. Never had a girlfriend, have you?"

Sonic stared blankly at the blacksmith. -_WHAT. How the... why... Is Tails TROLLING me? He's better than __I__ am._-

The blacksmith chuckled a bit. "I'm taking that as a no." -_I don't think this is Tails. He wouldn't pull shit like this, even on people he hates._-

"And you do? How old are you anyway?"

"Fourteen. Why?" -_Aha! This isn't the Tails I know. But... about four years older though... If this is what Tails will be like in four years, except he likes me better, beating Eggman will be much more hilarious. Along with every single day._-

"Just wondering. You seem a bit young for that stuff."

"I have a girl." -_YOU BEST BE JOKING. Why does TAILS get all the love. I respect the sidekick and all but yeesh. I'll let him go do that stuff when he decides to follow the promise he made back on the ARK. You know, BE INDEPENDANT? Step in front of me when there's a big robot 20 feet away, volunteer to help me out, you know. Doing things on a whim, without me saying anything. Be a hero for once, and not a martyr._-

Sonic rose an eyebrow. "How long d'ya think that'll last before something screws it all up?"

"Not soon, for sure."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Let's get back to business. Is the boomstick already done?"

"Workin' on it." The Smithy said, looking back at it. "I messed up on making some of the parts, so I have to make them again. Shouldn't be long though."

Sonic gave a thumbs up. "Alright." Sonic looked around a bit, and then looked back at the blacksmith. "Where are the mercs?"

"Downstairs, making themselves comfy."

"Thanks." Sonic made his way to a stairway going down and found the three men and the woman he met that morning, laying out sleeping cots.

"Alright, listen up. I went to see Nimue, the Lady of the Lake, today. On the way I met Lancelot. I blew his brains out of his head. Anyway, she gave me three tests, that I want you to help me with."

Saxton, laying on his cot, looked at Sonic, and then back at the book in his hands. He was holding a feather with ink on it. "Shoot."

"I picked the one for you guys, I think you'll like it." Sonic replied. "I need you to find some money lying around and start handing it out tomorrow, do _not _steal it, keep extra money to yourselves. Meanwhile, I'll get to work on busting out the jailed civilians. When you all wake up, go out and start working."

"Easy 'nough, I guess." Saxton commented, not paying his full attention.

Sonic backed up out of the doorway and started heading up the stairs. "Alright, get some sleep."

"'Ey, what 'bout that third one?" Saxton questioned before Sonic left fully.

Sonic turned around. "Already done. Did it on the way back here, right Caliburn?"

"Yes, we defeated at least seventy enemies on the way back. Nice work, I really liked that one where you impaled that one minion on the wooden barricade." Caliburn answered.

"Yeah." Sonic turned back around and headed up the stairs.

"Now I'm going to just lay down and just rest because I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight. Lancelot got turned into a bloody mess..."

"Wait you killed _Lancelot_?" The fox at the table asked. He was shocked that the person he designed the weapon for was as skilled as he was.

Sonic turned to the fox. "Yeah, blew his head open too. It was as disgusting as it sounds, man. I'm gonna have nightmares..."

Smithy looked at the ground, and looked back at Sonic. "What was that dream about again? I don't recall what it was."

"You don't remember it because I never told it to you."

"Well will you?"

"The most I want to say about it is that it was a killjoy, because I went lucid, and then everything went to hell."

"Any specifics, I mean?"

"Shit got random halfway through and I was obliterated."

"I see. Well, sucks for you, because you have to sleep sometime."

"Yeah, well, go fuck yourself with a cactus." Sonic jokingly said, causing an uproar from the weasel downstairs.

Sonic laid down on the rug he slept on last night, staring at the fire once more, this time for an hour or so, until he finally drifted off into sleep.


	9. DO YOU HAVE IT? GUTS!

**CHAPTER 8: DO YOU HAVE IT? GUTS!**

"Aaaaaallright ladies and gentlemen," said Sonic with a tone to suit an announcer while wearing an orange suit and tie. -_Why the fuck am I in a suit that doesn't look good on me? I'm no expert on fashion but god damn I have eyes too._- He was standing at an entrance to a water park. "It's _TIME_ for another episode of _DREAM TEAM DEATHMATCH!_" -_Third person dreams tend to suck._-

Off to the background stood The Babylonian Riders and the Dynamite Crew. The Babylonian Riders had smug faces, while the Dynamite crew was not as happy. Fang was holding a slick black gun. He grunted as he pulled the odd slide back and put in a dart. Bean frowned and looked down at himself, or rather, his full-body bandolier of flashbangs. Bark just stood there, cracking his knuckles.

"Last time, you saw JACKIE CHAN while trying on four layers of baggy pants, babysitting, in a foldable chair, table, and ladder factory, and wanting NO trouble, versus the UNIVERSE! I am honestly surprised the Universe won. Jackie must have had an off day. Anyway, today, we have the Babylonian Riders, and the Dynamite Crew! Okay, just like that one time where we pitted the _entire British Army_ as of 1776 against five hundred Spetsnaz soldiers, there will be an objective. In the middle of this water park, there is a bag with a person in it. The Babylonian Riders are to bring her to me. But, the Dynamite Crew must go up ALL THE WAY to the top of the hill, and drop her down the tallest water slide in the park- OR, the Babalonians can wait until the ten minute timer runs out and they win!" -_I sound like Vince Offer._- "So whaddya say guys? You all ready?"

The Babylonian Riders stood on their hoverboards, ready to begin. Fang sat on the Marvelous Queen, revving the engine, while Bark sat in the sidecar. Bean sat in the background with his arms crossed.

"Yeah." Said the contestants.

"Alright the timer starts in three, two, one AND A AH-go."

Before any of the contestants on vehicles could react, an explosion blasted behind them, and Bean soared through the sky.

"FREEDOOOOOM!" Shouted the duck as he disappeared into the tree line toward the center of the park. The suit-wearing Sonic was bamboozled at how Bean managed to cause the explosion, as he was given only nonlethal weaponry.

After a short moment, Fang saw his chance and dashed ahead, leaving the shocked birds still at the starting line. The riders soon started off and dashed for the center of the park.

Due to the Marvelous Queen's slow acceleration, the Babylonian Riders were catching up fast, especially Jet. Fang handed Bark the tranquilizer dart gun. "Stop 'em!"

"Which one, Rockay?" Bark asked in reply.

"I don't give a fuck, just stop onna 'em!" Fang ordered. Bark turned around quickly, barely aimed, and fired.

The shot flew toward Jet's board. But, due to the bad aim, it ricocheted off, an flew toward the other two riders. Wave got hit, and fell off her board. Storm smashed into her and was sent flying, screaming in the process. Jet looked back in worry, but shook it off as he raced on.

"Hold up a sec...!" Fang had hatched an idea. He went as fast as his bike could go, and saw Bean with a bag. "Bean, gimmie the bag!"

Bean held it out as far as his arm could, and Fang snatched it as he went buy. He then drove off a cliff, scaring Fang for a moment, who then realized how big the fall was, letting the Marvelous Queen fall and hover just above the pool stationed just twenty below it. He began to turn as Jet followed the hoverbike.

Fang reached behind the seat and grabbed a small box. He raced back toward where the fallen riders were. "Alright, get off."

"What?"

"JUST GET OFF YOU LARDASS."

Bark jumped out of the sidecar and rolled onto the ground. Fang tossed Bark the box and shoved the bag into the sidecar. Bark grabbed the box and looked at it. "Whaddo I do with this, boss?"

"I'm sure your small brain can think of somthin'. Why not try opening the box first?" Nack replied smart-assly as he continued to ride on. Jet was soon to follow, and he pointed and laughed at Bark, assuming he fell off.

Bark opened the box, and looked around.

Fang decided 'what is wrong with messing around with the rides to stall Jet for when Bark is done' and decided to take a detour. He pressed a button, putting the side car in front of the bike, and went into a small fenced in walkway, a line for a rope swing into water attraction. He looked back to find Jet following. Good. Fang turned into the walkway to the last rope swing and jumped off his bike, grabbed onto the rope, and flung off. "YYEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAHH!" Fang shouted, as if singing 'Won't Get Fooled Again'.

He landed on his hoverbike, which bumped into the platform to leave the pool, he did what seemed to be a wheelie on water, and lifted the bike onto the platform and drove out of the attraction. Jet had tried to do something similar, but he failed to grab onto the rope and went into the water. He got out quick regardless.

Storm got up as he rubbed his head. He flew right into a tree. He shook it off and looked around, to see a beige polar bear carrying a bag up hill. He began to sneak up behind the bear as best as he could. As Bark entered a locker area, Storm grabbed Bark by the shoulders and threw him into a locker, causing him to drop his bag. Bark turned around getting ready to block, but he was a bit slow with raising his arms, and took a punch to the face. Storm repeatedly sent punch after punch into Bark until he was on the ground, unable to defend himself well.

Suddenly, something smashed into a row of lockers. This took Storm away from beating up Bark to look around. Suddenly the row of lockers he had held Bark up to flung over, spinning at just the right speed so Bark didn't get hit, and smashed into Storm. The Marvelous Queen's hovering system,thinking the lockers as ground, flew up into the air. Jet was to follow, but by this time the locker was almost completely flipped over in the other direction. The hawk's board smashed into the locker, sending the Hawk flying down the hill.

Bark got up and looked at the Marvelous Queen, turning back to the ground and decelerating. "Bark, toss me the bag!" Said Fang as his bike was descending.

Bark walked over to the bag and tossed it to Fang. Fang tossed this one over his shoulder and dashed on.

Bean was at the stump of a tree, setting up a trap, when Fang raced over. "Bean, get in the water slide."

"Can't you see I'm busy?" Bean grumbled.

"I'm busy too, just work with me. Get in the water slide just enough so you aren't seen, but make sure you can come out of the slide through the entrance."

Bean sighed, dropped what he was doing, and crawled in. He put a hand on the side of the tube to keep himself upright.

"Good. Catch."

Bean caught the bag as it slid down toward him. It shook him, but he was upright. "Now what?"

"Wait 'till I come back." Fang loaded another round into his dart gun. "When I come back, I want you to give me the bag, and you have to slide down."

"Arright."

Fang got onto his hover bike, patting the bag, and racing off.

Jet was back on his bike, perusing Fang, with Storm just behind him. He watched as Fang reached the top of the hill, and got off the bike, and grabbed the bag and began to climb the wooden stairway up to the water slide entrance. Jet did not get off the board as he went up the stairs.

Fang was wondering what the whirring noise behind him was. He turned around into a punch, and was sent spinning. He fell to the ground using his free hand to hold the spot he got hit. Jet tried to pry the bag from Fang's hand, but the weasel was vicious with it. He kicked the bird, keeping a strong hold of the bag. Then Storm came along, and lifted the weasel, and let Jet take the bag from Fang. Storm then threw Nack off the wooden staircase, to land on his hoverbike and fall to the ground.

Jet grabbed his board and began to rush down the stairs, getting on it again as he got off the staircase. Nack noticed this, and he quickly scrambled to his feet and onto the Marvelous Queen. He just passed the stairs as Storm jumped off them, and hopped onto his board. Fang followed Jet, until he came up to the tube slide again. Fang stopped and hopped off, raced up to the entrance and stuck his hand in. As he was doing this, Storm was looking in curiosity.

"Gimmie the bag." Fang ordered. Bean tossed the bag to his boss, who turned around and got on his bike again.

"HEY!" Storm shouted, turning around to try to beat the weasel to the top.

Hidden by the commotion, Bean tip toed out of the slide, and grabbed a rock. There was a string tied to the rock.

"Shit!" Fang cursed as he started back up to the waterslide.

Bean tossed the rock across the path. It looped around a tree branch. Bean quickly hopped down into the water slide and slid down.

Storm was going as fast as he could go, trying to catch up to the enemy leader. He saw a rock fly by, and looked in curiosity as to who threw it. He turned and saw Bean slide down the water slide when suddenly he felt a small string break against his chest.

Jet heard an extremely loud 'pop' as he reached the cliff from earlier. He looked back and saw Storm on the ground holding his eyes. He grimaced, but he continued to go back to the starting line.

"Not so fast!" said a voice from behind the hawk. He turned around to see a green duck holding a flash bang.

"OH MY GOD." The hawk shrieked as he raced as fast as he could, taking out one of his fans to help push him forward, leaving behind some turbulence.

Jet reached the finish line seconds later, with a smile on his face.

"Well, we may have a winner." Said Sonic, taking the bag. "Let's check."

He opened the bag, and held it away from his face. After a moment, he looked inside, and chuckled.

"What?" Jet asked annoyed.

Sonic looked at Jet. "You were swindled." The announcer reached in and pulled out Wave by the back of her shirt. -_Owned._- "Played like a violin."

Jet stared at Wave. He wasn't focusing on her, he was zoning out to what that meant. "DAMMIT."

Sonic looked off toward the top of the hill, and took a few steps. "Oh, look Jet, it's your victory about to be plunged." Jet rushed over to see what he was talking about.

Sure enough, Fang was on the top of the wooden stairway at the top of the hill, with the bag over his shoulder. He let it down on the slide and kicked it. The bag slid down the slide at an amazing speed before finally stopping at the bottom, splashing into the water.

Fang, cheering, saw Bean and Bark coming up the hill. He decided to greet them. He jumped down the other slide to get down, and when he got up Bean and Bark hopped over the fence to the deck where customers get off the slide.

"Let's see who's inside." Bean said.

"Yeah." Bark said as he grabbed the bag. Nack snatched it back.

"_I_ made the plan, _I'll_ open it." The weasel said. "It's not like you won't see who it is, anyway." He opened the bag.

"_Pop goes the wea-sel!_" said a pink hedgehog as she raised her absurdly large hammer.

As Fang and the crew were getting mauled, Sonic walked up to the fence. "And that concludes this episode of _DREAM TEAM BATTLE_. Goodbye everybody!" -_Kickass dream. Fuckin' KICKASS._-


	10. Cochise

**CHAPTER 9: COCHISE**

Sonic slowly opened his eyes, straight at the charred wood in the fireplace. There was a bit of fire there, but it was dying. Sonic laid there, watching the fire until it went out. When it did, he stood up, and began cracking his body.

"Good mornin', Smithy, Caliburn." Sonic said, cracking his neck.

Caliburn smiled. "Good morning. The Blacksmith is not up yet. Any nightmares this time?"

Sonic began swinging his arms around, managing to crack his back. "Not this time."

"Good. I am surprised, with what you went through yesterday..."

"Yeah. That day was full of two things I hate, gore and drama."

"Hm."

"Anyway, are the mercs downstairs or did they get going?"

"They left half an hour ago."

* * *

Al and Degroot were running around smashing all the pottery they could find in search of rings and yellow fairies. It looked comical, a large bear and a green duck running around smashing pots on the ground, picking up rings and bottling fairies left and right. Up the street, Saxton and Rachel were trying to find people to give it to.

"Do you need any rings? I got plenty to spare." Saxton asked with pleasure.

The civilian sighed. "No thanks, I'm-"

"Shut up and take my money!" Saxton tossed a small bag filled with twenty rings at the civilian, who caught it, unsure what to do with it.

* * *

"Do you think they are successful so far?" Caliburn wondered.

"Yeah, knowing them, they're probably at the limit already." Sonic joked. "They won't know when to stop."

"Maybe that's for the better. But shouldn't _you_ be doing the tasks?"

"I'm using them to give money to the poor, like I use you to slay the knights of the underworld. It is my doing that they are giving to the poor, no? It is of my doing the knights of the underworld were slain, no? They both happened because of me."

Caliburn rolled his eyes. "That would have been true if you had gotten them to free the captives, but don't you think she meant giving your own wealth you earned...?"

"I'm piss poor now." Sonic answered with a chuckle.

Caliburn scoffed. "Well, I hope she understands your way of dealing with things."

"She admitted it herself." Sonic began, stretching. "She said it's her fault the world is being taken over when she only gave the Scabbard to Arthur. I'm sure she'll have to agree it's because of my doing people are getting money when I only told them to."

"True, true. Anyway, business. The castle in the center of town is holding prisoners, and we need to break them out."

"How much resistance do you think we'll get?" Sonic asked, looking at what was on the Blacksmith's table. The 'boomstick' was done, but he wasn't looking at that. He was looking at the next item on the list. It was a retractable blade, hidden in a vambrace. -_Oh boy I bet you can't guess where I got that from._-

"Not too many, we have no clue how many underworld beings are in the city, let alone how many could be in the castle."

"So we skip everything else and go straight to the cellar."

"If we can, that'd be great. But let's get on with it, shall we?"

Sonic made a noise as he shrugged. He grabbed Calibun and walked through the door. He began dashing toward the center of the city.

"It seems pretty clear today." Sonic pointed out, noticing the lack of enemies. "Maybe they're all in the castle."

"Don't be so sure! They could come out of anywhere to strike!" Caliburn reminded.

Sonic dashed along and noticed bridges. -_If memory serves right, there should be a giant crossbow just ahead._-

Sonic smirked as he was correct. He ran up to it, and smacked the wooden blockade stopping the oversized bolt from being launched. It shot across the crystal clear lake of the city, -_which you have to know looks sweet._- and was lodged in a statue in the forehead. The force caused an already cripple base for the statue to crumble , and it fell toward the castle, crashing through the wall. It sounded like a continuous explosion, the statue destroying the wall.

Caliburn stared at the mess Sonic had created. "The word 'stealth' doesn't have any meaning to you now does it?"

Sonic chuckled as he jumped onto the rope and began to grind there. "Heheh, I guess you could say I lead a charmed life."

"You lead a charmed life indeed, Sir Sonic. Now I hope you can slay all the enemies whose attention was attracted by the HUGE ENTRANCE YOU JUST MADE FOR YOURSELF." -_That's weird, hearing him yell. He's used to keeping his cool, but he just blew it. I think ever since I fought King Arthur on the road, the course of the story has changed. Will that change the events I have to do? Whatever, it's time to kick some ass._-

As he got closer to the bolt, he jumped off into the waterway underneath the castle. He saw a wooden gate closed. He instinctively ran over to it and started slashing at it. A couple slashes through, he realized he could just jump and slash his way through the wooden bars, but, seeing his progress on it, he decided to finish it up. He saw two enemies waiting behind the gate, like last time, and he knew two more were going to drop behind him.

The moment he destroyed the gate he did a backflip out of the square of enemies. He then leaped forward, and kicked one with amazing force, sending it flying into another, an down the small stream. He then slashed the other enemy beside him in the gut, and spun the other way and chopped him in half. He looked at the lone straggler as it tried to stab him with his lance.

It almost hit, to Sonic's surprise. He didn't remember them being so accurate. -_I seem to be noticing that I am now noticing what I didn't notice before. Hm. Notice to self; use the word 'notice' less._- Sonic followed up with his own jab. This one was successful, going straight through the underworld creature. Sonic flung it off and dashed onward.

He saw a group of prisoners. He slowed down to a halt and he patted a cellar dweller on the shoulder. The moping thing turned to look at Sonic, who was pointing behind him. He turned around to see that the gate was gone. The civilian looked at Sonic, at a loss of words, when Sonic decided to jet off and save the others.

After a minute or two of gate busting, fighting, and rescuing, Sonic dashed out into a tunnel. It took him up to the streets.

"Well, that's that." Sonic said, sounding relieved. "We should go get the Saxton and the mercenaries now."

"Saxton?" Caliburn asked.

Sonic realized he didn't tell him. "Oh, it's the leader of the mercenaries I got."

Caliburn did his best to imitate a nod. "Right. Let's get them."

And so they set off to find them. It took plenty of running and some fighting, but Sonic had found them on a long bridge.

'That's enough guys, go back to the Smithy's. I have to go see Nimue now." Sonic ordered.

"A'ight." Saxton answered as he turned to his comrades. "Pack up the stuff guys, we're going back to the shop!"

The bear and duck slung a huge bag of rings over their shoulders, the cat merely followed, and the weasel rushed up to catch them.

"And hopefully you'll be less of an ass." Caliburn commented. -_Look who's talking._-

Making no verbal comeback, Sonic dashed off out of the city, and toward the lake.

* * *

"The time which you completed all those tasks was remarkably fast." Caliburn complimented.

"Remember who you're talking to!" Sonic replied as he normally would, with his signature smirk to follow. -_To stay me, y'know. I've heard a lot of things like having to lie so much about yourself and how you act that over time you think that's how it is. This should only take a week though... whatever sometimes I just can't help but feel like I'm acting too gritty for a guy like me, y'know what I'm saying?_-

"I just hope she'll let your mercenary thing slide." The talking sword said, sounding not the slightest bit worried.

"Oh I'm sure she'll-" Sonic began to skid to a halt. -_There's that kid again. I WANT TRANSFORMATION POWERS EEEEHHHH._-

On the road ahead, was a girl, wailing and howling in sadness. -_How come I didn't realize that's Amy/Nimue's voice the first time, whatever._- She took her hands away from her eyes as they drew closer.

"Hey, what's wrong? Anything I can help with?"

The girl looked at Sonic, and took a deep breath. "A great big dragon attacked my village!"

-_Gotta act surprised._-"WHAT?"

"It took my mommy," she paused mid-sentence to breathe in. "and my daddy, and everybody away!" She went back to wailing and rubbing her eyes.

"D'ya know where it is?"

"It's in the big cave, at the bottom of that mountain!"

"Alright, a village, some parents, and one giant serving of" -_Kalamari *WHACK* NO. THEY DON'T EVEN LOOK LIKE OCTOPUSSES WHAT THE HELL AM I THINKING._- "salamander coming right up!" Sonic said cheerfully.

"Wait! Don't tell me you're going off to slay a dragon now!" Caliburn interjected. -_Wait, what's the plural for Octopus? Octopusses? Octopi? Octopussi-YOU KNOW WHAT FUCK THAT_-

"Yeah, why?" -_WAIT KALAMARI IS SQUID DAMN IT._-

"What of the Lady's tests? You'll never make it in time! It won't take just an hour to free them, it'll take days!"

"For the second time," Sonic began as he grabbed Caliburn. "Remember who you're talking to!"

Sonic waved goodbye to the small -_...Whatever it is_- child and dashed off down the road into the Titanic Plains.

"You fool..." Caliburn said, speechless.

"You don't have any parents to lose, so you wouldn't understand." Sonic replied.

Caliburn scoffed, as Sonic dragged him into the wide open field. Sonic dashed along, slowing down to get a view at the landscape every now and then. -_I can't help myself. Normally, I would go back and take another look at places I've been. This is my second time here, and the first time I completely disregarded what this world looked like. I like taking a second, longer look at places I've been._-

Sonic's sight-seeing was interrupted by a giant enemy. His mace was the size of Sonic.

"YOU ARE HUGE." -_THAT MEANS YOU HAVE HUGE GUTS no shut up I do not need twenty more references that no one will get. Besides, that'd only be funny if I didn't have Caliburn and proceeded to try to rip out his intestines with my hand through his armor._- Sonic shouted as he looked up at the behemoth of an enemy.

"That means he has huge guts." Caliburn went on. -_There is no single word that can explain my emotion._- "It's going to take a lot to scare this soldier of the underworld."

Sonic did not say a word as he jumped up to his head a slashed at the eye slits. Doing so made him turn around from momentum, and he used this to get another slash through his breastplate. He landed on the ground, and rolled to the side. Before the monster could turn around, Sonic jumped again and stabbed it in the already slashed helmet. With that hit, it shattered into oblivion.

Sonic dashed onward through the field. Along the path he saw underworld knights with outrageously long lances. Sonic thought about attacking head on, but Sonic saw a simpler answer.

As they drew closer, Sonic leaped to the left.

"What are you gonna do about that, huh?" Sonic mocked as he raced by the slow reacting enemies. By the time they all turned around Sonic was past them all.

Sonic curved away from them and past the spears and large spiked balls, and back onto the normal route.

"Well, isn't this a nice view?" Caliburn said, referring to the stone pillars and the landscape they were placed on.

"You didn't notice I was just doing some sight seeing earlier?" Sonic asked.

"Well it wasn't my fault it didn't look that great."

"I have better things to do that argue over whose opinion is right, so you know."

Caliburn gave a smirk as he opened his mouth. "I don't, so you lose." -_Fucker._-

"Fuckin'- Oh, Woah!" Sonic yelped as two large enemies came out of the ground to intercept him. Sonic backed up a couple yards, and began to twirl Caliburn around his hand.

"Tell your friends in the underworld not to get in my way!" Sonic shouted as he dashed toward the one closest to him. He made three fast swipes across the large enemy, and landed. Sonic looked up to see that it was swinging its huge mace at him. Sonic barely hopped back in time to avoid it, and did a jumping slash to finish off the foe.

"_Fe Fi Fo Fum, you're as big as you are dumb_." Sonic muttered to himself jokingly as he began to slash and hack at the large monster of an enemy.

When they were killed, Sonic dashed on. Five more enemies appeared, and the hero made short work of them. Sonic raced on, and began to slide down a hill. After collecting a few fairies, he veered left, into an ambush. Sonic did not stop for these enemies, however. He slashed right through them, only stopping for the behemoth in the back.

Caliburn examined their next obstacle. "Hm. A wall. You can climb up it by stabbing me into the wall and-"

Sonic had began to sprint up the wall at his signature speed. As he soared into the sky, he heard an enemy crawling out of the wall he just ran off of. He landed on the ground with a roll and raced on, dodging the large metal spiked balls, and into a tunnel, where civilians walked around, talking.

"How did you do that?" Caliburn asked curiously. He knew Sonic could traverse a wall without his help but he was surprised Sonic could do it that quickly.

Sonic grinned as he entered the sunlight once more. "A little practice."

Sonic raced out into the ruins, jumping into holes in stone structures, kicking off them to leap over the giant spiked balls below. He smashed through stone pillars blocking his way, and continued to see more enemies in his way.

"Would you like to see my skill again?" Sonic asked Caliburn, feeling like gloating.

"I don't see what harm it would do. It is a useful skill, after all." Caliburn answered.

Sonic charged toward the first wave of enemies, slaughtering them as he went by. Then, as he saw the second wave coming in, he jumped on the wall and ran along it. He skipped a couple of groups, and he jumped off the wall to turn a corner. He did this again, but on the last row he slashed Caliburn across the torso of an enemy from above, to switch back to the ground. He knew there was a staircase up ahead, if he kept on running he'd miss it and fly.

Sonic began to run up the staircase and, once more, avoided combat by running along the wall.

As the staircase began to reach the top, he rolled back onto the ground, underneath an enemy's legs, and slowed down as he reached an altar of some sort. -_What does Stonehenge have to do with King Arthur, anyway? And why would Gawain be waiting here of all place- oh HELLLOOOO, what do we have here?_-

Sonic, trying to be quiet, looked around the corner of a pillar to find Gawain and Percival. _-Must have come early. Sweet._- Percival looked as if she was getting ready to leave, Gawain didn't look so happy about that.

"But Percival, please tell me you at least heard what he did to our friend Lancelot!" Gawain argued.

"I know, Gawain... I know..." Percival assured her friend as she looked at the ground. After a moment she looked back up. "That's why I'm telling you to _suck it up_ and _kill him_. Complaining won't do anything, neither will running away. Stand and fight for yourself. For Lancelot..." Percival put a hand on Gawain's shoulder. "For all of us."

"Yes, but did you get any details on what he did?"

"Does it matter?"

"His head was BROKEN!"

Percival took her hand away from him, no longer showing sympathy. "His helmet wasn't on, unless his killer took it. That shouldn't happen if you don't take your helmet off."

"The guy probably collects trophies and shit." Gawain began. "Some people hang heads of dragons and such on their walls. I bet he'd keep helmets of those he's defeated."

"Will you just shut up and deal with it already? You sound more of a girl than _I_ do." -_You guys will never understand how much I wanted to say "OH SNAP" at that moment._- "You look pathetic, crying to me over this."

"Shut up!" Gawain shouted as he pushed her away, his hand resting on the hilt of one of his axes. "Don't you have things to do? Like find out where he'll go next and intercept him, like we have been doing?"

With a growl, the cat turned her back to Gawain, and ran off. Likewise, Gawain turned around and began to stomp toward the center of the altar. -_Unintentional scare tactic. Hmm. Note to self, Percival might try something new._- Sonic barely stayed out of sight by shimmying around the pillar as the big angry red knight cursed and damned everything he could think of his way to the center where, where he would just stand there, staring at the stairway exit, waiting for his foe to come.

Sonic stared at the unknowing echidna, smirking a mischievous smile as he reached behind him. He pulled out a bow, and a single arrow. He pulled the string back, lined up the arrow, and squinted in one eye. He began to wonder what to say before he fired the shot.

"Well I've been watchin', while you've been coughin', I've been dreamin' life, while you've been nauseous..." Sonic said, loud enough for Gawain to hear.

As Gawain turned around with the rage of a bull in his eyes, he saw an arrow soaring straight to his stomach. Taking the hit, Gawain curled up, grunting, cradling the wound, but he straightened up, and began stomping his way over to Sonic.

"You sneaky little FUCKER." The Red Knight boomed as he tore the arrow from his stomach, without slowing his pace or a trace of pain on his face. _-Holy shit that's hardcore.-_ He tossed aside the arrow and drew both his axes. "Say your prayers, you _thieving rat_."

Gawain had dashed forward suddenly and slashed at Sonic. It had almost gotten him. Sonic used Caliburn to block his second strike, and then Sonic rolled back before a third could come. Just as quickly, Sonic rolled forward and slashed at Gawain. It was a head hit, but his helmet protected him well enough. -_Thank God._-

Gawain rolled back, and his head shook as he got back up. After shaking himself a bit, he was back to combat condition. He quickly did a couple strikes to fend Sonic away. Gawain continued to do this and turned into an aggressive attack. Sonic jumped over Gawain and turned around to attack from behind. As he did, Gawain turned around to clash weapons. Immediately after this, Gawain lunged himself at Sonic, slashing at him.

Doing his best to avoid getting hit, Sonic forgot that his enemy had two weapons. During a flurry of slashes and attacks, Sonic got a cut on his thigh. Sonic slashed Gawain across his armored chest twice as soon as possible to make him back off, and put a hand over his wound and began to shout. "FUCK. FUCK. FUUUUUUUUUUUCK." _-I REALLY could have used that armor.- _

Sonic looked up up at his enemy, as red as the blood that dripped from his leg, quickly make his way back over to attack. Sonic raised his hand, and loosened his grip on Caliburn.

"Sonic, what are you doing?" Caliburn outbursted.

Gawain stomped over and raised his axe to chop off Sonic's hand.

Sonic dropped Caliburn and pulled his hand to the side of his chop. Sonic then grabbed Gawain's arm, and used his other hand to grab his other arm. He slid his hands down his arms and yanked the axes away from Gawain, while ramming him away. Sonic leaped back and twirled the axes a bit, and smirked. Gawain surprisingly stood his ground.

"You're good." Sonic complimented his enemy, "First one to hit me that hard. Congratulations, I'll make sure when I'm a king to give you a prize of some sort."

"Oh, don't be saying you've won when I don't have a weapon. My fists are still lethal!" Gawain assured his enemy. -_Oh I am sure they are. That's why I'm not going anywhere near you._-

Sonic stopped twirling them, took a few steps backward. He let the blades of the axes fall so that he was just barely holding on to the tip of the handles.

Gawain looked confused, but still on edge. "What are you planning on doing?"

Sonic twirled the axe in his right hand once more as he raised it and reared his hand back.

"I'm curious, have you ever tried this?"

Gawain continued to look confused, but then with a gasp of realization, he turned and ran.

Sonic reared his hand back a bit more and then threw the axe at Gawain's back. With a loud _WHICCHHKT_, the axe was implanted in the back of Gawain's obviously very thick armor. The force of the impact made him stumble. Sonic raised an eyebrow at the sight of this. _-Holy cow that armor is deeper than Shadow's past._- "_Holy dooley_, you're a fucking _juggernaut_." Sonic switched the axe from his left hand to his right hand and prepared to throw it again. -_Then again his skull is thicker._-

Gawain regained his footing, and was almost past a stone pillar he could use for cover. He heard the axe whistle through the air behind him. He knew that it was going for his head. Quickly Gawain slid and turned, using his hands to swing himself behind cover. Gawain saw the axe hit the gravel feet away from him.

With a sigh of relief, he ripped the axe out of his back and stared at it for a moment. Not a trace of blood. Good. He felt blessed that it hadn't killed him. He dashed onto the gravel walkway and rolled over his other axe. He got back into fighting stance, to see Sonic had other plans.

Sonic was holding the weapon Gawain knew blew a hole in Sir Lancelot's face.

Gawain gasped through clenched teeth. He was on the verge of running away, when Sonic opened his mouth.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way." Sonic said, not having the rifle pointed at Gawain.

Gawain pulled down his thick red visor. He nodded.

"The easy way is to toss me your axes." Sonic began. "The hard way is me killing you for it, or you killing yourself for it."

Gawain lowered one of his arms. "... Why would I kill myself?"

"A lot of reasons. You do realize I was listening in earlier?" Sonic explained. "Stress, guilt, humiliation, _fear_. It was all spewing out of your mouth talking to Percival."

Gawain opened his mouth and let out a war cry the loudest Sonic's ever heard something come out of a person's mouth naturally as he dashed toward Sonic, his arm muscles twitching as they are raised above his head. In Gawain's mind, there was only one word repeating through his head. '_Kill_'.

_-Welp, hope I'm a good shot._-

Sonic raised his rifle and aimed it at the enraged echidna's head. It didn't stop. So, Sonic pulled the trigger.

PAK-KOOHHHH...

-_Different sound. That's good to hear._-

Sonic looked at what happened. Gawain's visor flew up, his head just barely stopped it from popping off, revealing shocked eyes. The pupils shrunk until they were the size of pebbles, and Gawain froze in his tracks. The axes flew from his hands and landed at Sonic's feet. Gawain's head swung back, with just enough force to make Gawain fall backward. On the gravel, he made no attempt to get up. He laid there, shell shocked.

Sonic smiled. -_I'd like to take this moment to thank video games._- He walked over to his apparently defeated enemy, happy to see not a single drop of blood coming from his head. He straightened Gawain's head, who did not care about his enemy inspecting him, and pulled his visor back down. After a moment of examination, Sonic chuckled, and plucked something out of Gawain's helmet. -_Holy crap, his armor is about as big and thick as my ego right now._-

"Jesus!" Sonic chuckled as he shut Gawain's visor and placed the hot metal ball on one of its gaps. "You lucky bastard."

Gawain stared at the metal pellet Sonic had placed on his visor, not saying a thing.

".. And so I dream to help, while you kill yourself, and I just got one thing that I can offer." Sonic said. "Go on and save yourself, or take it out on me."

Sonic walked back to where he had dropped Caliburn. He picked up the two axes and put them away, and then he picked up Caliburn, who was delighted to see him.

"Well, how'd that shot go?"

"His day just got turned around, man." Sonic said, walking back over to him. "His armor is so thick, stopped the bullet. He's right now paralyzed from shock."

"Were you planning on killing him with the shot?" Caliburn asked.

Sonic shrugged, stopping over Gawain. "No."

Sonic stuck Caliburn in the ground, and scrunched down.

"Drown, if you want." Sonic began. "And I'll see you in the bottom, where you'll crawl, on my skin, and put the blame on me so you don't feel a thing..."

The echidna took a breath in through his open mouth. He looked like a vegetable on a hospital bed.

Sonic stood up, grabbed Caliburn, and and said again. "Go on and save yourself, or take it out on me, yeah..."

_-Forget every other reference, I've done a lot of music references already. Hell, the beginning of the book, no matter what I do, sounds a lot like Painkiller. 'PLANET'S DEVASTED. MANKIND'S ON ITS KNEES. A SAVIOR COMES FROM OUT OF THE SKIES IN ANSWER TO THEIR PLEAS.' Why does it occur to me now that the 90's had awesomely corny music._-

Sonic got up, grabbed Caliburn, and yanked him out of the ground. He ran off toward the direction of the mountain.

-_Oh, and I swear if I see that guy with the shot gun named "Kurt Cobain's Microphone" again I am going to STAB HIM._-

Sonic left Gawain, alone, at the stone circle, laying on the ground, his mind empty. It was then he was able to conjure some words.

"What. The. Fuck."


	11. Ride the Wind

**CHAPTER 10: RIDE THE WIND**

Sonic raced toward a cliff. He saw something up ahead. It looked like a water-wheel, but there was no water in sight. -_Fucking conveyer belts, how do they work?_- Shaking the thought from his mind, Sonic stepped on the spinning contraption and used it to launch himself across a gorge into the cave.

"This is it," Caliburn pointed out whilst Sonic was dashing deeper into the cave. "Are you ready?"

"Yup." Sonic answered, smashing through crystals.

Sonic dashed into a narrow area in the cave, and several enemies stopped him. Sonic made short work of them all, shield or not. As he exited the narrow area, he entered a large open one, with enemies scattered along his path. He looked up and saw giant falling stalactites from the ceiling of the cave.

He didn't feel like swinging Caliburn at these enemies. He charged them. He jumped and placed both feet on the first one's chest, knocking him back and onto the ground with Sonic on top. Sonic quickly stepped off and turned around, to see the underworld knight be impaled to the ground from the stalactite. He continued on, rampaging his way through the cave.

Sonic came across a large enemy with a ball and chain. Sonic made short work of the enemy, but kept the ball and chain. -_Could come in handy._-

After several minutes spent rushing around the cave which was illuminated by glowing crystals -_Cool._- and glowing fungus. -_NOT COOL._- He found an exit to the cave, where civilians were caged. -_Strange. That wasn't there before... whatever._- There were no enemies to be seen. _-CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER...-_

And then a dragon popped out.

"WELL DON'T THAT BEAT ALL." Sonic said aloud in disbelief, as he ran behind a rock. _-THAT WASN'T THERE BEFORE, WHAT THE HECK._- He swung Caliburn into his holster and swung out the boomstick.

"Sir Sonic, how do you think we should combat the dragon?" Caliburn asked worriedly.

Sonic shook with energy, sighed, and then glared upward. "Efficiently."

Sonic dashed out of cover and ran toward some higher elevation to get even with the dragon. The dragon spat fire at Sonic, but the dragon anticipated a slower foe. Sonic had run on top of a large rock by the time it finished up with the first spray of fire.

"Hope you like your left one better."

With a thundering boom, the eye of the dragon erupted in blood, splattering some on the shooter. _-REMEMBER KIDS: When using firearms, stay as far away from the target as possible.- _Sonic gagged at the sight.

"Woah, that's gonna need one hell of an eyepatch." Sonic ranted as he watched the dragon wither in pain. He almost felt sorry for the thing, and he would have if it hadn't just tried to incinerate him to a slow and agonizing death by fire. _-I wonder if Blaze's servants have the same problem.-_

"What are you waiting for?" Caliburn questioned. "The dragon will get its senses back soon enough! Get on it and start attacking it from on top of it!"

Sonic flinched in realization of this. He would have to ride on a dragon whose eye was just shot out by a shotgun. -_Well, fuck. I was never known for flying skills, but..._- With a bit of hesitation, Sonic stepped back, and launched himself onto the dragon. He swung the boomstick away and pulled out Caliburn.

"Finally, you're on. Stab its wings, make it crash!" Caliburn ordered.

"Alright..." Sonic replied as he got up and began rushing over to the dragon's wings. It was stable as the dragon had landed to regain its senses.

The dragon shook its head to regain control, it took off, shaking Sonic a bit.

"Don't you DARE fall!" Caliburn shouted.

Sonic lunged for the wing, sword posed to stab it. The dragon flew very fast, however. The dragon almost flew so fast that Sonic almost lost his footing when jumping. "OH MY GO-" Almost. The sword pierced the dragon's wing, making it scream in pain and begin to coil its wings. "OH YEAH!" Sonic shouted in relief. Sonic quickly withdrew the sword and grabbed onto the dragon's thick scales as the dragon looped around once or twice before balancing out again.

Sonic staggered to his feet, and again, lunged for the other wing. The dragon anticipated this, so it flew sideways to make his jump turn short. Sonic landed just feet away from where he needed to be to fully stop this dragon's flight ability. Sonic tried crawling and stabbing Caliburn into the wing, but the dragon flipped yet again. This time Sonic was able to get up, jump for the wing and grab onto it, barely.

The dragon began to barrel roll a dozen times, before finally stopping upside down. Sonic quickly recovered, and made no hesitation to stab the dragon in its good wing. The wings coiled again, sending Sonic right back onto the dragon. A bit dazed, Sonic got up and ran toward the head of the dragon.

As the dragon was falling, the dragon began to roll upright, and Sonic ran along with it to make sure he didn't fall off. As he ran there, he remembered about the chain he had taken from the underworld soldier. He pulled it out and began to swing it over his head like a lasso. After enough speed was gained, Sonic threw it in front of the dragon's nose from the right. It soared from the right of the dragon to its left. The ball swung around while the chain tucked into the dragon's gums, the spots where it couldn't chew. As the ball came around and threatened to knock Sonic off the dragon, Sonic dodged and sliced it off the chain.

Sonic grabbed the free end of the chain and gripped the other one greatly as he pulled up. The dragon was in a lot of pain, first the eye, then the wings, now his teeth would be shown no mercy. The dragon managed to muster the strength to pull up in reaction to his oral pain.

"YES!" Sonic cheered as he changed the dragon's direction to head for the cage. "I AM AWESOME!"

"Sonic..." Caliburn worried. "I don't think this was part of the plan."

Sonic scoffed. "Of course not, I follow my own plans. If I think something you say is the way to go, it's the way to go. Not this time though. Hey, do you think this would understand orders?"

"Why?"

"I want to pick the cage up and bring it back down to the girl, all while riding the dragon."

"I wouldn't try i-"

Sonic veered toward the cage of civilians. They were screaming as the dragon drew closer.

"PICK THOSE GUYS UP!" Sonic ordered the dragon. The dragon didn't seem to care. Sonic noticed it was about to spit fire, and pulled up. The pain inflicted on the dragon from this caused its head to fling upward, along with the rest of the body, and as a reaction, its claws clenched around the cage, lifting it off the ground with everyone inside.

"Ha HAA... man I cannot believe this has worked for this long."

"Don't forget we have to land!" Caliburn loudly notified Sonic in an attempt to rain on his parade. "With torn wings!"

"I'm sure they'd take a twenty foot drop if it meant freedom."

"Guh," Caliburn groaned. "Whatever. Are we sure that's all of them? It doesn't seem like a lot..."

"Think logical. Would a fire breathing dragon somehow manage to cage everyone in town and bring them up here, without a single one dying, either being eaten, burned, or falling out of the cage?"

"I agree that although it is good logic, but..." Caliburn paused. "That's some cold logic, there."

"I'm Sonic, not Mister Brightside."

After shortly training himself to dragon-ride, he flew back to the pathway. There, he saw the girl standing there, mouth agape, as Sonic barely managed to get the dragon to drop the cage and settle down. As Sonic got off, the girl walked up to him.

"Oh my... oh my goodness! Thank you so much!" The girl thanked, hugging Sonic around the waist.

"Can't really say it was no problem, but I got something out of it too." Sonic remarked, pointing to the dragon with his thumb. Sonic quickly jogged over to the cage, and cut the lock, and jogged back.

The girl took a moment to examine the dragon, and let out an "ooh" in amazement. Sonic used this moment to clear his throat. "I need to ask you something."

"Yes? What is it?" The girl asked in excitement.

"Are you Nimue?" -_Oh yeah, who's the man with the plan?_-

Her jaw dropped again. The little girl stared in complete shock at the blue hedgehog like it was changing ten colors a second. Sonic blinked in slight confusion to her response, but in the blink of an eye the little girl changed into Nimue. Nimue walked up to him and put her hands on his shoulders, leaning in with a confused look on her face.

"How did you...?" She said, blinking with the same confusion that was on Sonic's face a moment before.

Sonic rolled his eyes and lightly pushed her arms off. "Well, at first I thought it was too much to be a coincidence. A entire town being kidnapped by dragons and taken to a mountain, EXCEPT this one lone girl who was crying on the path I traveled to your place on, at the same day and time?" Sonic began to explain. "I swore it was you at first, this being your 'true test of heroism', or a test on my naïve-ness. Either way, I guessed if I turned it down I'd fail, and so I went looking for a people and a dragon that I didn't think exist. BUT THERE THEY WERE. I was confused, but I still held onto my first thoughts tightly." Sonic shrugged. "I just thought I'd find out if I really did help this kid out or if I just did the last test."

Nimue stepped back for a moment. "Smarter than I had thought you were... and I already thought you were pretty clever."

"Thanks!"

"Hey, blue guy!" said a male voice. _-HE SOUNDS LIKE BILLY MAYS. AWESOME.-_

Sonic turned to this and saw the civilians getting out of the cage. "Thanks for the help, man! You're our hero!" the man in front said, holding his wife by her shoulder.

"Welp," Sonic chuckled, and, once more, pointing to the dragon. "Can't say it was no problem!" _-ANYTHING FOR BILLY MAYS, MAN.-_

"You know what sucks? The village burned down. We can't give ya what you deserve for that."

Sonic noticed the wife was holding a child, the exact child Nimue disguised as.

"That's okay..." Sonic reassured, less optimistic.

"Goodbye, and good luck fighting that nasty old king!" The man said, as he turned around and began to walk with the leaving crowd, bringing the wife and child with him.

Sonic turned back to Nimue, who had her head slightly tilted. "Something wrong, Sir Sonic?"

"Ah. Where do I begin?" Sonic began, triggering his sarcasm. "Oh, I know! First off, I had to fight a dragon that I did not expect! Second, I got wounded recently. Shit fucking hurts, you know."

He noticed Nimue was giving him a look. Not a happy look.

"And third, I know that the mercenaries I hired will wimp out by the end, leaving me to do all the work. Sure, there are some nice folks, like Billy Mays over there, but you just can't expect one man to have all the motivation do all of this stuff on his own free will by himself."

"Well..." Nimue began, leaving the sentence unfinished. She never really expected a hero to say that. The honestly had no clue what to say to that.

"No one else, even the king's own knights are too blind or too scared to fight back. Not even your son." Sonic sighed, shrugged, and began cracking various areas on his body.

After a silence for Sonic cracking his body, Sonic finished and looked at Nimue. "Anyway, about that secret about the Scabbard..."

"Ah, yes..." Nimue responded, refreshed at the change of subject."Come back to my home to discuss this, first." The lady of the lake turned and began walking, her eyes still on the hero.

"Alright." Sonic answered, and began to follow, but immediately halted. "Wait."

"What is it, Sir Sonic?" Nimue asked. She turned around to see Sonic sitting on the dragon.

"Wanna ride?"

Nimue looked scared for a moment. "... No thank you."

"Alright."

As Nimue led the way, Sonic rode the dragon behind her.


	12. Another Thing Comin'

**CHAPTER 11: ANOTHER THING COMING**

"All I have to do is get all the knights swords? Sounds easy enough. Already been doing that." Sonic explained.

"Yes, that's it." Nimue nodded. "The swords you collected are sacred, and along with Caliburn, will temporarily dispel all of the Scabbard's powers." -_Wait a second what. Temporarily? But it's all the powers. Nice trade-off, I guess._-

"Temporarily?" Sonic asked as he raised an eyebrow.

Nimue sighed. "The Scabbard is very powerful, even passively. The four sacred swords barely beat it, during it's initial power surge. However, the Scabbard's passive power is stronger, and will eventually break free of the sacred swords' spells. It can be done again, however."

Shrugging at the minor change, Sonic spoke. "I guess I'll have to grab it fast. Anyway, the last knight, Percival, anything I should know?"

"Well, she's the Knight of the Grail, for starters." Caliburn began. "She's as strong as she is noble, and she's got a fiery temper. She's been known to be forgiving to those of pity crimes, but she has a cruel sense of justice to all murderers. Harsh... but fair."

"Sounds like fun." Sonic snorted.

Caliburn scoffed. "Fun? One false move and it's off with your head!"

"Whatever. Still gonna be fun." Sonic shrugged. He grabbed Caliburn, and began walking toward the parked dragon. "Thanks for the tip, Nimue."

"Fare thee well, brave knight, Chosen One of Caliburn..." Nimue said as the knight staggered away. She hadn't noticed the wound was that serious until then. "Wait."

"What?" Sonic grunted. The adrenaline and other pains had masked his thigh wound for a long time, and now that all the distractions are gone, he feels the leg pain much more now, and it hurts when he walks.

Nimue took a vial, bent down by the edge of the walkway, and put it under the lake water. She then got up, put a cork on it, and handed it to Sonic.

"This water will help your leg get better. Just pour it on your wound and let it dry." She said with a smile.

"Oh god, thanks!" Sonic cheered as he took the holy water gleefully. He immediately got onto the ground and poured it on his wound. It stung, for a moment, but he felt the pain start sizzling away. In a moment's notice, the wound was healed. Sonic chuckled as he got up. "You have no idea how much I needed that."

"Well, it'd be a shame if you failed because of a sloppy performance, because of that wound. I wouldn't want that." Nimue explained.

"Yeah," Sonic nodded, taking her hand and shaking it. "Thanks again." Dropping her hand and about to leave, he froze a moment and spoke again. "Hey, uh..."

"Yes?"

"Can I leave my dragon here? I wrapped the chain around a tree, and if it deroots the tree it'll be too busy crying to do anything. Can't really have dragons in the city."

"... Sure."

"Again, thanks." Sonic said, at last turning around and speeding off, Caliburn in hand, to the Blacksmith's shop.

…

Sonic walked in to see the blacksmith eating with the hired hands. Sonic stretched his arms.

"Wellllll," Sonic said aloud, arching his back, and popping his back loudly. "Oh, that felt good. Smithy, did you fix up that armor already?"

The two tailed fox mumbled over his shoulder while eating some bread. "Yes. It's right there, in the corner."

Sonic turned his attention to the set of armor in the corner. It was a different kind of armor than he had expected. It was like a platebody, on top, but on the stomach, the plate metal stopped, lightly covering what looked like a dragon scale design. The legs had a similar design; plate legs, but it turns into metal dragon scales around the joints. The boots were no different.

"I normally paint the armor, but since I usually do this work for knights who fight under a flag and colors and stuff," the black smith paused to swallow his bread. "And since you don't belong to a king, and I'm not sure if you wanted it blue, so I left it unpainted."

Sonic took another glance at the armor. He then noticed the helmet. The visor was black, as if it were glass.

"What's this?" The warrior asked.

The Blacksmith turned around to look at what he was asking about, and returned to his food. "A visor I made from the excess onyx you gave me. It's thin enough to see through without much trouble, but it's thick enough to take a slash. I think it's worth less protection than a metal visor, because with your speed, I'm sure you blocked plenty of attacks so far."

Sonic sprung a satisfied smile."Alright. Now, tomorrow. Tomorrow, I will be fighting Percival, knight of the grail. She just happens to be located," he spoke as the smile turned into a frown that read 'are you kidding me', "in the middle of a ring of fire surrounded by a lava filled molten mine. Protection from enemy knights, are the least of my worries. Instead of traversing through an easily lethal and potentially fragile landscape, I chose that I will _fly_ over it."

The blacksmith rose his voice. "_What?_"

"Dude what." Said Al through a mouthful of ham.

"You heard me. Okay, I'm not sure if you know this, but heat rises. Heat rises because hot stuff expands. The air down there is literally right next to lava, so it's definitely going to spread out and have some upward force to it. However I can't just fly with that. I need wings. I need wings. Lightweight wings made of paper and wood, so it can be lifted by the heat waves."

The fox was struck yet again. He was clever, and he had known a lot about everything he knew of, but he would have never thought of this. Upon instinct, he took a napkin off the table, and began to fold it. In a few moments, he had made a glider, and tossed it into the fire place. It flew remarkably high, then it fell into the fire on it's back.

"Clever..." the fox stated. "I'll work on that after I finish."

"Make five."

"Five?"

"FIVE?" The rest of the table shouted in unison as they suddenly rose, all of them tipping their chairs over in the process.

"Yes five. You're all coming along." Sonic answered, crossing his arms.

The mercenaries rejoiced. Al lifted Degroot onto his shoulder as they pumped their fists. Rachel and Saxton didn't celebrate as much as their two drunken friends did, however. Rachel pulled her chair up, while Saxton, unknowing that he'd knocked his chair over, sat down on nothing and fell backward. Rachel giggled, and Saxton quickly fixed the chair and sat in it, resting his head on his hand facing the other way from his group to hide his slight embarrassment.

All the while the four were happily surprised, the fox sat, staring at them, blankly. The fox quickly went back to eating and grumbled. -_... What's his problem?_-

After dinner was finished and the mercenaries had went to bed, Sonic got to laying on the ground, trying to get some sleep. He couldn't sleep well, because Smithy was cutting pieces for the gliders. He remained still and quiet, regardless.

There was knocking on the door. Tails stopped what he was doing, and checked the door. With a smile on his face, he opened it to show a rabbit girl, 2 years younger than him, smiling. -_Cream. I take it that's his girlfriend. Why am I not surprised. Hey, where's Cheese? Wait a second Cream, Cheese, CREAM AND CHEESE OH MY GOD THEY TASTE HORRIBLE TOGETHER_-

"Hi Leon!" The rabbit giggled with her hands behind her back. -_Smithy's name is Leon? __**Leon**__? NOW I'M SURPRISED. I am barely containing myself right now._- "Whatcha doin'?" -_GOT AN UNCONTROLLABLE URGE AND I WANNA SCREAM AND SHOUT IT_-

"Work." Leon the Blacksmith answered lowly. -_I can't see it either, man. I can see Knuckles as Gawain, and Blaze as Percival –heck Percival sounds like a girl's name anyway–, but I can't see Tails __being called Leon. WHY ISN'T HIS NAME MILES FOR CHRIST'S SAKE._- He invited her in with his hand and she came in, and closed the door behind her.

"What kinda work?"

"Work work. Building things for that guy sleeping on the rug." Leon said as he pointed to Sonic. "If you want to be more specific, Emily, building things I had never thought could be built." _-Ok, so Cream is Emily. Easier to see happening than fucking LEON, but still weird.-_

Emily let out an "ooh" in interest. "Like?"

Leon's arms dropped to his sides, and his tails flopped to the ground. "A fucking flying machine. Five of them."

There was a moment of silence, but then with a yelp, the rabbit hugged the fox.

"Not for us."

Leon pushed her off lightly, and saw a disappointed look.

"Oh..." she said saddened.

-_HOLD THE FUCK UP ONE SECOND. Okay, let's get our bearings here. I say he's gonna build flying machines for everyone in the room BUT him, he didn't act as surprised as everyone else, kinda disappointed and jealous. Now, when he tells Cream AKA his girlfriend AKA Emily that he's building flying machines, she goes ballistic, but when he says "not for us", she's shocked. WHAT'S THE DEAL. Can they NOT... oh snap._

_THEY CAN'T FLY._-

"I know, I know, but it's more gliding than flying. It needs heat to get higher."

-_All this time I was under the assumption that he could fly, but had no need to. I didn't know he wanted to fly. I would think the same for her, too._-

She put her arms down to her sides for a moment, her eyes trailing off, but then she spoke again. "You can make more, right?"

-_And I just denied them of what they wanted... Damn..._-

"I have to make five by tomorrow. If it's that quick to make, I'll see what I can do."

Leon and Emily began to talk about things in their lives. Leon's parents should be back in two weeks, or so he says. Emily's Chao, Riley, had been taken away by underworld soldiers. -_Again with the TERRIBLE NAMING. I blame these medieval age parents. Anyway, note to self, save Riley._- After minutes of talking, Emily was about to leave. Before she did, Leon stopped her.

"Hey," he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to look at him. "I'll fly you away. Someday."

-_I feel like an asshole. AN ASSHOLE I DID NOT MEAN TO BE._-

Emily finally left, and Leon closed the door. He sat back in the table, slammed his elbow on the table, and rested his head in his hand.

"Wish I could fly like a superman..." Leon said softly, before getting back to work.

_-Oh my god is he singing Superman? Oh hey lookit that I'm falling asleep.-_


	13. So Here I Am

I have this policy that I can't post _only_ a filler chapter every update, and these next two chapters go together, so, three chapters in one day. Lucky you.

**CHAPTER 12: SO HERE I AM**

Sonic woke up in his bed. Without feeling tired, he got up and grabbed his MP3 player, and began to play "Endless Possibilities". Strutting out of his apartment and down the halls, he felt warm as he walked into the crisp summer sun. It felt perfect. The temperature had just the right amount of warm and the air was not damp, but not desert dry.

As he walked down the sidewalk, his friends slowly gathered behind him, feeling just as glad as he did. He decided he wanted to go to the town park, enjoy the beautiful day.

Sonic passed a highschool. He decided to look in a window and see what the kids were up to...

"BOORIIING! Elliot, wake me up with Ms. DERPson does something cool." Said a bald teen wearing a suit as he began to rest his head on the computer keyboard.

Elliot, apparently the kid wearing skullcap, and a vest over a sweatshirt, waited a second, and pointed his finger at the teacher and slapped an excited look on his face. "HOLY SHIT! LOOK!"

In surprise, the bald student sat up straight immediately and leaned in to get a closer look.

"Today we're going to be learning the basic fundamental entities of..."

"ELLIOT, YOU LIED TO ME. WHY? WHYYYYYYYY..."

Sonic and his friends laughed, and continued to the park.

They had finally reached the park, and they continued to talk around a bench. Sonic, sitting in the middle of the bench with his arms stretched across it, felt at ease, and began to let his head roll back, and, behind the group, he saw a happy girl skipping along the sidewalk, singing something he couldn't hear well, when, seemingly from nowhere, a band of 50's swing trumpets began to play.

The little girl's voice became clear. "... ten thousand tons of ice cream, and I don't get the things that I am after..."

Sonic recognized those words. He couldn't place where, though.

"...Iiii'm going to screeeeeeEEEEEEEE..."

Immediately the scenery around the little girl and the trumpets began to fade as Sonic finally placed the lyrics. The trumpets were replaced with an eerie siren-like noise. Sonic's eyes widened and his pupils shrunk at the thought of how she would sing that song, that he knew this girl was going to sing perfectly, note for note.

Without a moments notice, Sonic rolled off the bench, turned around and began sprinting for the girl.

"Sonic, what are you doing?" Amy demanded, starting to run after him.

As Sonic raced there, the girl's jaw stretched to an unusual length as she did an enormous and extremely unfitting intake; it was quite obvious by now that the little girl isn't always a little girl. But before she could let out anything, Sonic had send a punch straight to the little girl's throat.

"NOPE." Sonic said with a powerful, and somewhat shaky, voice, as he pulled his arm back.

Immediately, the girl was no longer there, and, instead, before Sonic stood a crystalline hedgehog with red eye whites and green eyes, with his hands cradling his throat, coughing. He stood there for a moment, coughing, and Sonic stared at the monster like it just walked out of an ice age exhibit in a museum. Sonic took the moment to look back at his friends, where were all frozen in time, along with the rest of the world, and were blurring out of sight from the purple and black darkness.

The strange creature had stopped coughing.

"God, do you always punch singing girls like that?" The creature asked in a sarcastic tone.

"No, but if I waited five seconds you would have screamed like banshee." Sonic raised an eyebrow for a moment, but dropped it as he spit to the side, keeping his eyes on the dastardly demon. "What in the name of God are you?"

"Neither enemy nor friend." Said the creature, suddenly in a robotic voice, with a normal sounding chuckle afterward.

Sonic pulled out a crowbar from thin air. "WHAT IS YOUR NAME?"

"I guess a proper introduction it is, then. My name is Mephiles. Mephiles the Dark." the dark creature answered.

Sonic tucked the crowbar under his shoulder, pulling out a rocket launcher. "WHAT IS YOUR QUEST?"

"To further the world into destruction, one, dream, at a time."

Sonic dropped his weapons. "WHAT, are my favorite movies, cartoon and live action?"

"Mulan and Full Metal Jacket."

"Motherfucking mind reader." Sonic exclaimed as he pulled out an Experimental MIRV. "Get the fuck out of my head, Charles."

"In 200 years, the world will be engulfed in flames, ruled by people you despise with a passion. In 200 years, the land of which you once traveled will be burning, and only few will survive the zones' wrath. In 200 years, no one will remember that there was anything worthful in life. I-"

"Cool story bro, am I going to be alive in two hundred years?"

"No, b-"

"_Blow it out your ass_."

Mephiles did not finish that sentence. At that moment, Sonic fired eight mininukes at Mephiles' head, and began to run. Within moments the city streets were illuminated by the light let off by the explosions, and, by that time, Sonic had stolen some hookie-playing teenage rebel's skateboard.

Sonic jumped as the flat road began to go down the steep hill, filled with cars, all being blown away by the blast, yet Sonic remains untouched.

"SO HERE I AM," Sonic began to sing, imagining his favorite ska song play in his head. "Doin' _eeeverything_ I can, HOLDING ON TO WHAT I AM, _pretending I'M A SUPERMAN!_"

_~I'm trying to sleep... I lost count 'a sheep, and my mind is racin' faster every minuiiite...~_

As the city's unrealistically steep hill twisted downward, Sonic continued to sing, doing kick flips, indys, McTwists, and a custom move that involved planting his finger on the board, sending his legs into the air, and start spinning uncontrollably.

_~What could I do more? Yeah I'm really not sure. I know I'm runnin' in CIRCLES but I CAN'T QUIT.~_

Sonic decided it was a good idea to do a jump off a ramp. As he did, he flew at least 5 times faster than he already was, yet still had full control over what he was doing.

~And I'm SO CONFUSED! About WHAT TO DO! Sometimes I just wanna throw it all away!~

Sonic landed in an office building, ditching the skateboard, and, losing no momentum, exited the other side of a building like a bullet.

_~Controlling everything in sight. I'm feelin' weak, I don't feel right. You're telling me to I have to change, telling me to act my age. BUT IF ALL THAT I CAN DO, IS JUST SIT AND WATCH TIME GO. Then I'll have to say goodbye. Life's too short to watch it fly...~_

Sonic opened his arms out of the ball position, and spread his arms out like a bird.

_~To watch it FLY-IGH-IGH, FLY-IGH-IGH FLY HIGH!~_

From this position, Sonic flew over Station Square. "So here I am, growing older all the time, LOOKING OLDER ALL THE TIME! And feelin' younger in my mind!"

After flying for quite a while, Sonic finally landed landed on one of the mountains nearby. Sonic stood the landing, dusted himself off, and began to clear his throat.

"Like I'm gonna listen to some shit handed to me by some recolored faggot with an extreme case of frostbite." Sonic muttered, with one foot raised onto a rock, holding the MIRV over his shoulder with one arm. He looked back at the explosions' bright light through the tinted glass of his newly acquired shades.

He took a breath in, and, through gritted teeth, he spoke. "Hell yeah, motherfucker."


	14. DDDD, DDDDDUEL

**CHAPTER 13: D-D-D-D, D-D-D-D-DUEL**

Sonic woke as freshly as he did in his dream. He got up, grabbed a piece of bread, and sat at the table. The blacksmith had picked up a cold, and was sneezing very harshly. He had made himself some tea to clear his sinuses. Not looking or feeling very good, he looked at himself in the mirror.

-_I wonder where this will get me. Let's see..._-

"_Woke up this mornin', started to sneeze,_" Sonic began to sing with a tone that's barely more than a mumble. "_Had a cigarette and a cup of tea. Looked in the mirror, what did I see? A nine-stone weakling with knobbly knees._"

The blacksmith, who could hear this all too well, looked back at Sonic with an insulted look on his face, not caring to hear what he was saying next. He did another harsh sneeze, and his attention focused back onto the lyrics.

"_Had another sneeze and I blew my nose. I looked in the mirror at my fidgeting chest, I had to put on my clothes, because it made me depressed._"

Sonic was nailed in the head with a wooden sandal.

"Ow!" Sonic grunted as he rubbed the spot it hit. -_Not my best idea, but I'll see what happens in turn later._-

"I find it charming that you've made a song about me being _downright pathetic_ on the spot, but to be honest I'd rather you not sing that." The angered metal worker replied.

"_Fine_." Sonic answered, making a joking mock mumbling afterward, which stirred a chuckle from Caliburn.

"Oh, you." Caliburn said as he let out a chuckling sigh. "Anyway, how are those flying machines coming along?"

"I got three done and just putting together the fourth." The tired blacksmith said. "I'm bound to mess up sooner or later, so expect it done by five o'clock."

"Arright." Sonic finished his piece of bread and went about town in search of a way to kill time. -_MAN, I wish this town was Renaissance-era Venice. I'm not so big of a fan of the water, but for the love of god, it's drop dead gorgeous AND there's kickass parties. Unlike THIS BORING TOWN._-

After going around the town for an hour, Sonic returned bored. He saw Leon the Blacksmith on the roof placing a cloth over the top of the flying machine. -_Not a Leonardo da Vinci work, but it'll fly, I can say that._- Sonic stopped. -_I should help him. Like I got anything better to do._- The mercenaries were sitting next to 3 of the gliders, Al was patiently waiting in a chair to catch the next one.

Sonic jogged up to the workshop, and jumped to a window sill. He placed his fingers around the arch above it, and jumped up, reaching for the bottom of a window sill on the next floor. Kicking off the arch of the first window sill, he managed to climb onto that window sill, and from there to the roof.

"Hey buddy," Sonic said lacking air, as he was pulling himself up. "Need help with the last one?"

"Sure" the blacksmith answered plainly. He pointed toward the just finished glider. "Toss that to Al." Sonic picked up the surprisingly light glider and tossed it down to the bear, who caught it by the nose, and handed it to an eager Degroot. The Blacksmith showed Sonic the schematic for the design he was making on a stand, and began to lay down on the roof as Sonic got to work.

In a good amount of time, Sonic had finished the last glider. He was about to toss it down, but stopped himself. He took a few steps back from the ledge.

The blacksmith raised an eyebrow as he was opening the trap door to the attic of the workshop. "Going to test it?"

"You know it." Sonic smirked.

"Won't go too far, though." Leon pointed out. "No open fires."

"To hell with it." Sonic said as he ran and jumped, taking a small dip to allow speed to pick up.

He flew fast, and he could hear the wind whistling by his ear. He was a foot away from the ground when he pulled up. The glider took upward immediately and went back into the sky. He could hear people cheer for him as he turned around and slowly pulled up as he was landing, slowing him down so he could stop while controlling the glider.

The first to meet him was Degroot. "Holy crap, that was AWESOME." He shouted, dancing like a fool.

"And ta zink no-wone zhouht of tat..." Rachel chuckled. -_What the fuck is going on with her voice, sounds like she's missing teeth._- "Can it liff our geer?"

"The hell happened to your voice?" Sonic asked.

"Oh, iz jus a richual I'm preparring." -_Holy dooley, she is SO ANNOYING NOW!_- "Zit reequirz teef. I'll grow dem back."

"Whatever," Sonic shook his head, visibly annoyed. "Anyway, it will lift your gear. Try it out a couple of times, get used to it, don't smash it, we're leaving in an hour."

"Got it!" The band said in unison.

* * *

_I am surrounded by COWARDS,_ the lavender cat thought to herself.

Percival grumbled to herself as she reread a letter from Gawain for the third time, saying that he was going to spend the next few months meditating in a log house he built in the forest. She cursed as she tossed it over her shoulder and off the cliff, into the burning lava below.

_I should have left with Galahad and Lamorak, _she ranted on to herself._ But 'no', I say, 'the king is just trying to unite Britain,' I SAY, 'give him a chance'! Now, they're gone, Lancelot is dead, Gawain's a __monk, my own king won't even fight until we're all gone one way or another, leaving ME to fight him. Fuck._

Percival looked around the rocky environment. The previous knights fought in areas where there were tall pillars or trees commonly interrupted the combat, but here, it was just large, sharp, rocks. If she were in a forest or a temple, she'd be able to hide behind the pillars and get a sneak attack, but no, she chose the place with the scorching heat and sharp rocks, in hope that the heat would get to him and the rocks would slash him.

_I need an edge._ She thought, her inner voice refraining from pannicking._ A trap. An ace in the hole. But what?_

Percival saw a very sheer cliff, with little to no ground underneath the very tip. Smiling a bit, she grabbed a pickaxe. _This isn't going to be what saves my life, for sure... _She crept over to the edge and began picking at what little was under the ledge. _I need another boost. But what will it be? What will be the deciding factor that determines weather or not I get killed?_

She pulled out the pickaxe, which clipped the cliff and made volcanic ash fly into her face. Coughing, she raised her visor, and began spitting and hacking. At last, when all the soot was out of her mouth, she groaned. "_I should have kept looking for that fucking cup._"

* * *

Sonic, Saxton, Degroot, Al, and Rachel stood at the edge of the vast volcano with their gliders. -_You know, it kinda looks like the Grand Canyon, except with lava, LOTS AND LOTS OF LAVA._- Sonic was now clad in his new armor, which was painted red and white. The shield was huge, from his torso to his shins. Instead of a logo on it, Sonic wanted words to be on it. The words read -_In some angry hand._-; "HOPE RIDES ALONE".

"I'm not so sure a' dis, boss..." Al said doubtfully, looking off into the distance. The mesas of rock were far and few.

Saxton wiped sweat off his brow. "Hot stuff rises, big guy. Hot air will push us up. If not, land in one of them mining towns and continue from there."

Sonic chuckled off their worries. "Don't fret, it'll work. I've done this before."

The blacksmith stood in the background, watching as they got ready to fly across the ocean of lava. -_Hopefully he doesn't feel as bad now that he realizes we're flying over something that'll kill you upon contact._-

With an equipment check, head count, and one last look around, Sonic spoke up. "Alright chums, LET'S DO THIS."

With a war cry, Sonic dashed off and jumped, tipping the front down. Within moments, the glider soared upward and was gliding dozens of feet higher than where he was when he took off. Hopes raised by this, the mercenaries took off with the same technique, with similar results.

"WOOOHOOO!" Degroot shouted. "WE'RE FLYIN' LADS WE'RE FLYIN'!"

"W-we're flying!" Caliburn rejoiced, hardly keeping back a compliment to Sonic's idea.

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Like I said before, not my first time flying, but nothing's quite like flying over miles of lava. Well, exce-COUGH COUGH COUGH... dag nabbit."

The mercenaries cheered amongst themselves for moments, before the heat got to them. And then everything else got to them. The heat was one thing, but there was so much soot and ash, you could not see the sun. The only light that touches this land is from the sea of molten earth below.

In a few minutes, the team had landed on the center-most mesa. The rocks were as hot as the air around them.

-_You know what?_-

Sonic reached for the boomstick. He flicked it above his head with one hand as the barrels plopped down an angle from the stock. Saxtons' eyes were wreaked with jealousy of such a fine weapon.

-_FUCK THIS OVERPOWERED PIECE OF SHIT._-

With one careless flick, Sonic tossed the boomstick off the mesa, and continued onward with Caliburn out. -_I never needed guns, it makes me look like Shadow. Sure, it ALSO makes me look like that guy from Army of Darkness with the BOOMSTICK joke, but hell when I shot Lancelot, HIS EYE HIT ME. JUST. FUCKING. EW. Besides, not going to use it during this fight._-

Shocked and stunned, Saxton and the equally jealous mercenaries just watched as the weapon flew off the cliff, with their mouths agape. Only seconds after the weapon fell beyond the edge, Saxton dashed up to the edge to confirm its' destruction.

"FUCK, DAMMIT, SHIT!" Saxton screamed in frustration. Getting up, he looked at his friends, glared at the hero, and then back to his friends. Saxton flicked his head toward Sonic.

Nodding, the team withdrew whatever weapons they had. Saxton withdrew his crossbow, with a very sinister frown stretching across his face as he was about to bring it up to his shoulder.

Sonic, who, aware that the cliff was very fragile, began to jog over to it.

"What was tossing the gun for? It could have helped you during THIS NEXT FIGHT, that you KNOW you were going to have! Why did you..." -_I know I'm gonna do, I'm going to break that cliff, I'm going to find this hiding cat girl, and I am GOING to SAY_-

Suddenly, a minecart flipped over, and out sprung Percival, grabbing Sonic's shoulder to hold Sonic still as she went for a stab to the back.

-_DOUBLE NIGGER_-

Sonic jerked at the sight of the knight, dropping Caliburn in the process. Sonic felt the pressure of the sword collide with the shield, and in reaction, Sonic twisted and punched Percival in the cheek. Sonic grabbed the blunt side of her rapier while she was stunned from the punch, and began to yank on it, but Percival fought hard to keep hold of it.

Sonic's armor, specifically the metal gauntlet he got from Merlina, was proving to be useful, as Sonic had a good grip on the sword with one hand. Sonic began kicking Percival, and after a few kicks, she let go, and the moment she hit the ground she began rolling to behind a rock. Sonic reared the sword back and threw it.

Percival saw it land a dozen feet away from them.

"SKIP THE FORMALITIES." Sonic boomed. "I CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL!"

-_Now that I have time to think, if you don't understand why I said "Double Nigger", look up Racist Robotnik comics, or don't, if you're not a fan of Tourettes Guy._-

Seeing that they were both weaponless, she was interested. Regardless, she stood hidden behind the rock. "What are the terms?" She asked, her voice shivering, not with fear, nor anger. Sonic couldn't place an emotion, but he could tell that she was ready for a fight.

"No weapons. No armor, other than helmets. First to remove the others helmet wins."

Caliburn interjected. "WHAT THE DEVIL KIND OF TERMS ARE THOSE?"

"If I win, I get your loyalty and your sword. If you win, you get my loyalty and my sword." Sonic continued, smashing his sharp shield into the rock.

Percival was unsure how to think of these terms. If she wins, she could turn him in and take his sword, but, what if he wins, what would become of her? Percival took a look out from behind the rock, to see that the helmet that went with the armor had been replaced, with a black and red one. Her eyes were not on the person underneath the visor. Her eyes were fixed on the clean hole in the center of the forehead.

Sonic saw a bit of fire spit from her mouth as she scoffed. "Deal." Percival answered through gritted teeth, with a hateful smile. She got out from behind the rock, undoing her gauntlets.

* * *

"What naow bozz? Are hwee juz gonna seet heer, and vatch heem get a zlaev?" Rachel whispered.

Saxton chuckled. "Ye. She's not gonna to do good of a fight. 'Cides, who here honestly thinks she'll win after what the blue boy did to me in the bar? Eh?"

"... Duh..." the yellow cat paused.

"... Go fuck a cactus, ya ugly whore."

"YOU HWANNA BET?"

* * *

The duelers were stripped down to their normal clothing, save for minor leather items; The only thing metal on them were their helmets. -_Thank god, that gauntlet off my hand is such a good feeling. Makes me feel lightweight again._-

"Caliburn, when you're ready." Sonic ordered.

Percival's voice was low and beast-like. "You're going to _burn_, you motherfucker...!"

"Duel!" Caliburn shouted, and with that, the warriors dashed into each other.

"_SPLIT YOUR LUNGS WITH BLOOD AND THUNDER!_" Sonic cried out, running straight into Percival.

Sonic sent a jab to Percival's stomach before she could get an attack ready. Placing his hand around her neck, Sonic reared back his fist to let out a good punch, but she blocked it, and countered with a kick to the side. Not even managing to break Sonic's pitch, Percival tried a punch, but Sonic ducked to his right, and sent a punch toward her gut. He send a low kick and knocked her off her feet while she was recovering from the punch, and Sonic jotted back a few steps.

"C'mon, you want some, you _ponsy?_" Sonic taunted, bouncing up and down on both feet, boxing style as his enemy got to her feet quickly "If Lancelot was _all fur coat 'n no knickers_, you should be piss easy."

Percival, without any warning, lunged and punched Sonic in the face. With his visor down, it didn't hurt, and he began blocking his head boxing style as he stumbled backward, Percival hopped forward and did a spinning kick to his head. Sonic took the hit, but the force behind it was tough. Sonic got knocked to the side, but he rolled back up and shook his head.

"Ooh," Sonic groaned, shaking his head. "Not bad." He rolled into a spinball and blasted at Percival. She did not expect anything like that. She jumped out of the way, but Sonic smashed into her leg, causing her to spin in the air. Sonic stopped twenty feet further, and ran over to pounce onto Percival. She saw him coming and kicked him away as he ran by. She rolled back to her feet as did Sonic, and they both charged each other. Sonic was ready for some climactic fist interlocking, but Percival had a different plan.

Percival stopped, ducked under Sonic's punch, and shot her hands up to Sonic's neck. -_FFFFFFFFF_-

Sonic jerked in reaction, and tried to break free, kicking at her viciously, but she was hellbent on killing him at the moment. It didn't even seem to phase her that this was supposed to be a duel, and not a deathmatch. Sonic stopped fighting back and grabbed Percival's neck. Instead of pressing his fingers down though, he kept one hand to hold it down, and the other was attempting to pull her throat out of her neck. He almost did that when Percival removed her hands from his neck. Sonic quickly removed his hands as well and kicked her in the stomach.

"What the hell your problem?" Sonic shouted, backing up to one knee, gasping for air. Percival was doing the same thing, checking her throat for a moment.

* * *

"I'm drunk, and even _I _think you both are bloody stupid..." Degroot sighed, pinching his brow together, but couldn't resist a chuckle. "I can understand betting money, but _this is not about money_! You both are _actually betting_ that whoever has their fighter lose _actually_ FUCKS a god damn _CACTUS_!"

"Shut up, ya lazy duck." Saxton ordered.

Rachel began to back her reasoning. "Zes. Hwee are haffing FUN."

* * *

Sonic finally recovered, and immediately sent a heavy-handed smack to the side of Percival's head. Her helmet took the hit, and she quickly got into a fighting stance. She send a jab to Sonic's stomach, Sonic let it land and curled up over the fist. He spun around, keeping a tight grip on her arm, and launched her into the ground.

Percival tried getting up quickly, but was met with a kick to the head. She flipped over, and before Sonic could try to attack her again, she kicked Sonic square in the chest, knocking him back a bit. Using the time gained from this, Percival got up and got ready to defend herself.

"Tell me why." Sonic asked, his voice asked in a gritty and somewhat breathless, also assuming a blocking position. -_Kinda hard to keep a normal voice when you were just kicked in the gut._- "Why do you think you're doing what's right?"

"IT'S NOT." The cat spat. "I HAVE NO CHOICE."

"Sure there's more options! What do you mean 'no other choice'?" Sonic said more clearly now, bracing himself.

"I decided to take a friend's advice. '_Stop being paranoid, Percival, it's doing nothing good._'" She rambled on in a mocking tone as she began to draw closer. She send a side winding kick to Sonic's side, leaving flame in it's wake.

Sonic's eyes widened, and he barely managed to dodge the kick and the flames, rolling backwards in the process.

"Decided to give the king a couple more chances. Next thing you know, my allies are dead, gone, or wimped out!" the Knight of the Grail ranted, advancing with a series of kicks, each one becoming more ferocious as Sonic continued to dodge them, if only by inches. Sonic began to back pedal a good distance.

"Even the KING doesn't want to fight you! So here I am, if I stop fighting I die," Percival continued. "If I kill you I'm ruining the world."

Sonic could not even see her behind the flurry of kicks she was sending out, and the streaks of fire that trailed them. Sonic watched as she finally stopped, gasping for air.

Sonic began to walk up to his breathless enemy. "I had to win a bet to get those guys over there. They didn't want to save the world. I had to make them. No one has the guts to fight alongside the person willing to save everyone's ass. At least _they_ don't want to. But, since you seem hellbent on killing me..."

Sonic sent a powerful kick toward Percival's chest, breaking her defense and knocking her to the ground.

"SO IT BEGINS!" Sonic shouted -_Obviously referring to the musical I'm about to break into._-, stomping over to Percival. "No matter which one of us wins, the ground we're standing on will crack, and blow away."

Sonic got on top of Percival. "YOU WILL FIGHT! And when you fight, you fight alone." Sonic flicked up Percival's visor, rearing back a fist. "And in the end you'll see there was no othe-"

"STOP, STOP, STOP!" Percival shouted as she kicked Sonic off, and rolled back up to her feet. -_GOD DAMN IT PERCIVAL, YOU RUINED MY MUSICAL._-

Sonic took his time getting up, with a good guess of what her response would be.

"Hold up! Stop fighting and talk!" She ordered.

"I thought you said you had no choice." Sonic asked as he got onto his feet.

"We want the same thing; kill the king. We have the same problems. I can see us both agree on the answers to those problems, we put the pointless anger away for a moment and compromise. You know, make a new answer?"

Sonic cracked his back very loudly. "Then I was right." Sonic began walking over to his enemy. "You agree to switch sides, to the side where people will only sit back and watch you die to save their lives?"

"Yes." Percival sighed. She dropped any guard she had by now.

"You agree to turn all the hate you had against me, and point it toward the true cause of all the pain and death?" Sonic was now within touching distance of Percival.

"Yes."

"You agree that you made a bet?"

Sonic pressed his thumb against her raised visor.

"Y... oh N-"

With a grinchy smile stretched from ear to ear across his face, Sonic casually pushed off Percival's helmet. She tried grabbing it, but when she felt the fur on her head, she made a face the shared the look of fear and anger.

-_This week's forecast: I foresee a lot of SCRATCHING, BITCHING, MOANING, AND HELLFIRE. In 2 or 3 weeks, however we may see some PARTYING. This has been a weather forecast by Andrew W.K._-


	15. FIREEEEE

**CHAPTER 14: FIREEEEE**

"PFFAHAHAHA!" Degroot boomed. "Oh, I like how he does it, dontcha Al? He does a sum overdramatic speech, hooks 'em in, and half way through it _vwoOOP_! PHAHaha, ha... Ah, good shit."

"Pretty good, I guess." Al mumbled, unmoved. He was disappointed at how the fight slowed down toward the end.

"DAHMMIT AHLL!" Rachel screamed.

"Welp," Saxton chuckled. Saxton shared the same look as Sonic as he jabbed Rachel with his shoulder. "That cactus ain't gonna fuck itself."

* * *

Sonic began to pick up his armor, tossing Lancelot's helmet aside, rubbing his head, and picking Caliburn up out of the ground.

"Now, I don't think that ending couldn't had been any more harsh and unfair." Caliburn commented. "It's almost heartbreaking to see someone lose their freedom like that."

Sonic looked over to Percival. She was cursing, stomping, and breaking bits of rock. Sonic looked back to Caliburn.

"Would you rather her dead?" Sonic replied. "She can at least have revenge while alive. Besides, it's not like I'd do anything messed up with her. Fair is the least I can treat people who can come toe to toe with me in the ring of honor." -_I can assure you, if I shot down any of your hopes and dreams, I am absolutely, terribly, and VERY not sorry. As a matter of fact, if you think I should get a girlfriend, guess what? Fuck you! I don't want a ball an chain tied to my legs with the ability to disagree with you and a voice that you can't ignore to go along with it. No sexism implied, just saying._-

"It's still not right, considering the bet you made." Caliburn retorted.

"I hate the thought of slaves, anyway. When it's all done and done, I'll let her go, do as she pleases."

"Gah, You have the right end in mind, but your means are devilish." -_Just as planned._-

Satisfied, Sonic turned around to try to calm down the sore loser. He saw that she was continuing her rampage, stomping on a sheer cliff. -_OH NOT AGAIN_-

"Hey, get back!" Sonic shouted, dashing over to grab Percival's dropped sword, putting the handle in his mouth, and beginning to sprint over to Percival.

* * *

Saxton wiped a tear of joy from his eye, and sighed with delight before reaching behind his back. "Anyway," Saxton let out while loading a crossbow bolt.

* * *

"Shit! Damn it!" Percival cursed, with each word a powerful stomp on a crumbling cliff side. After a couple audible cracks, she realized she had spent a long time chipping away the support from this very cliff side earlier that day. Her eyes widened in realization. "Fuck. MY..."

It suddenly gave away, the debris making Percival unable to grab hold of something. Sonic dashed up to the cliff side, stopped suddenly, stabbed Caliburn into the side of the cliff, jumped off, and swung himself downward with increased speed, tearing Caliburn out of the rock while doing so.

Sonic snatched Percival's arm and pierced Caliburn into the rockside, slowing down their fall. When they finally came to a halt, Sonic let out a breath of relief.

"Gog gammit girl," Sonic began, Percival's sword in the way of speaking properly. "Nex hime you ho dat I'm hus gonna leht yah faww."

"Why...?" She asked, confused. "Why did you-"

"Flurfin wiff disasha er'eh day." Sonic muffled.

"Oh, get a room." Caliburn rolled his eyes. -_He did not just say that. He did NOT. OH NO HE DIDN'T._-

"You talking hunk of scrap, now's not the time for jokes." Percvial snapped, disgusted.

"Perciwal, gwab mah wegs." Sonic said. She hesitated, but slowly she grabbed his ankles. "Awwrigh, gwab yow sworg." Percival grabbed the blunt end of the blade, holding on to Sonic's ankle for her life. Sonic opened his mouth, letting Percival take it out. Sonic grabbed the hilt, and no sooner did Percival's other hand shoot for the ankle she let go

"Alright, thanks." Sonic thanked. -_Alright, just like last time._- He shoved Percival's sword into the wall, and readjusted his footing. He withdrew Caliburn from the wall and stabbed him into the wall higher, acting as if he were ice climbing, with Percival holding onto his ankles, using her feet to help climb. "Caliburn, that joke was uncalled for. You go on ranting, saying 'ooh you were rude to the lady of the lake' and then proceed to make sex jokes right after."

"Well if you are rude to everyone else all the time, I thought why not I try to show _you_ what _you're_ being?" Caliburn retorted.

"When I be rude, I don't tell others to act nice. I don't say 'be well mannered around your mother' before calling her a whore." Sonic fired back.

Caliburn sighed, and looked around. Noticing a massive statue rising above the lava, Caliburn chuckled. "Oh, look. It's a life sized statue of your ego."

Sonic and Percival took a look, and while Percival let out a slight giggle, Sonic got ready to argue. "Insulting me does not back up your argument. Besides, that's nothing, I carved my face on a side of an active volcano, MYSELF."

Sonic began to look around climbing while his friends were trying to think of what to say to that, and spotted a smaller statue, with a broken sword. "While we're at it," Sonic added, pointing to said statue. "Statue of your mom, right there."

"Okay, stop it." Percival spoke up in a serious tone.

"Fine, _nyeeehEEHHH_." Sonic mocked as he climbed to the top. -_That was supposed to be a less annoying and loud rendition of the most annoying sound in the world from dumb and dumber. But seriously, how would you write it out? Can you describe it with words? It really IS the most annoying sound in the world!_- Sonic raised an arm above the rockside...

And knocked back over by a crossbow bolt.

"SHIT!" Sonic cursed, to check if his hand was alright. Thankfully, the armor was not pierced, the bolt only pushed his hand away. "WHAT WAS THAT?"

"Sonic, I should have told you this before, but I don't think your mercenaries were too happy about you tossing your gun over the cliff..." Caliburn pointed out.

Sonic angrily sighed. "Welp, that sucks. Percival," Sonic flicked the rapier around, and offered the handle to her. "You're going to need this."

Percival, nodding, grabbed the sword, and took a deep breath.

Within a moment, Sonic kicked off the wall, flinging himself and Percival over the ledge. He began taking the shield from behind his back and protecting himself from any more bolts or other ranged weapons as Percival got up.

"Alright, you get closer using the rocks as cover, I'll get their attention while fighting them, then you come up and start attacking, got it?" Sonic ordered quickly.

"Alright." Percival whispered, understanding the logic. He was armored, while she did not put her armor back on after the duel in her near inconsolable rage. Sonic dashed forward, shield still in front of him, meanwhile Percival dived behind a rock, and began to sneak her way closer.

Sonic looked through the see through onyx visor as if it were a glass, saw what his enemies were doing. Degroot was flicking knives of all sorts from his bag, Al took out a short sword, Rachel was nowhere to be seen, and Saxton was in the middle of firing another bolt at Sonic. With a satisfying _KPLUNK_, the bolt bounced off and landed on a rock off to the side.

Knowing that his opponent had to reload, Sonic dashed over to his first enemy. It was Al, raising his his foot to kick the shield. Sonic jumped to the side as Al missed his kick. Without hesitation, Sonic swung his sword at him, but the giant had already moved out of the way, and was rushing to try to get Sonic from the side. He quickly deflected the stab, and raised his sword to slash the bear, but Al's stab was followed by a punch.

Stumbling to the ground, Sonic rubbed his nose as he readjusted his shield, staring up at his large and powerful foe. -_Man, he can punch. I bet he could punch a sword mid-swing and knock it back._- Sonic began to roll over back onto his feet, but as he was doing so, Al sent a stab to Sonic's foot. Sonic's armor held, however, and Sonic rolled back up.

* * *

Meanwhile, Percival was finishing up putting on her armor again, while hiding behind a cluster of volcanic rocks. "I'm such an idiot..." she muttered to herself, as she grabbed her sword and peeked out from behind the rubble.

On the lookout was a small green duck. He was juggling knives, wearing a pleasant smile on his face, where he may as well have been at a party. She quickly ducked back behind cover as the green duck noticed her, and, without any sense of alertness on his face, sent a knife whistling into the rock just next to her head.

"C'mon puddy tat," Degroot, flipping his eyepatch up, revealing a perfectly functional second eye. "C'mout and pway!"

Percival was surprised at how fast Degroot could throw a knife, not to mention how many he could juggle. With some hesitation, Percival yanked the knife that was impaled onto the rock. It was a bit dulled by the rock, but it would cut. Percival rolled out from behind the rock, and began dodging knife after knife sent by her enemy. A knife managed to hit her in the upper stomach, but the armor caught it.

When Percival was only mere feet from the psychotic bird, she threw the knife at him. Unsurprisingly, he dodged it, but rolled in her direction. Within her sword's range, to her delight. After a few swift swipes and a presentation of Degroot's moderate dodging skills, he began to throw knives at Percival within close range.

With blood flowing with adrenaline, she began to dodge the knives, catch them, make the armor receive the blows where it would hold, all within ten feet of the duck throwing them. With all the acrobatic and over the top dodging she had to do while wearing her armor, she was getting worn out pretty fast. With the ground covered with knives, her armor scratched and cut, and her lungs empty, she stopped, slumped over with her hands on her knees, breathing heavily, and looked at her green enemy, who was looking less pleased than before.

He had no more knives to throw.

* * *

Sonic lunged at Al swinging, and Al managed to meet his sword with Caliburn every time. Sonic decided the shield wasn't going to do much defending from such a large attacker. After a couple more sword clings, Sonic spun to the side, swinging the shield against Al. It knocked the big bear back a fair distance, and it's owner grew a satisfied smile.

Out of the corner of his eye, Sonic could see the weasel aiming down the crossbow's sights.

"Look out!" Caliburn shouted as Saxton fired the crossbow.

Sonic raised the shield in order to stop the bolt from piercing his neck, and with a loud _TANG_, the bolt bounced off the shield, while a curse was uttered from the shooter. Sonic looked toward the bear he was currently fighting, to see him rushing over toward the hedgehog. Just before Al let lose his jab, Sonic ducked, turned his shield sideways, and rushed through the bear's legs, knocking him over as he was charging.

Sonic stood up and looked back at the bear, who rolled over onto his back. -_HEY WAIT A SECOND aren't I forgetting something? … Ah yes._- Sonic dashed over to the grounded bear, dropping Caliburn and the shield. He began to sprint toward the grounded bear, who was backing up on the ground, reaching for his sword.

Al threw the sword at Sonic. -_OH FUCK_- He quickly he threw himself to the side, barely dodging the blade. Sonic got his footing back and continued to charge toward the now unarmed bear. Sonic jumped without spinballing, and reared his hand back. Al was ready to take the punch to the head.

But then a blade flung out of the wrist.

"_Requiescat in pace, tu merde._" Sonic said in his best Ezio impersonation. Sonic stabbed Al in the neck with his hidden blade. The large enemy swung to the ground, air gaping out of his mouth, like Lancelot, but before it could get any worse, he pushed himself up from the dying bear, retracting the blade.

Sonic stood exhausted over his now defeated enemy. He took a moment to wipe the sweet from his brow, as he looked over to Percival and Degroot. It was only for a moment, then he heard the snap of Saxton's crossbow, in reaction Sonic rose his shield up to defend himself, blocking the bolt.

"WHY YA SHOOTING AT ME? YOU GOT AN UNARMED FRIEND THERE!" Sonic complained loudly before jumping behind a rock.

"The bloke can handle himself, ya bloody cunt." Saxton remarked while reloading.

In curiosity, Sonic rose his shield, looked through the dark onyx visor, and to the cat and the duck.

Percival was done with her rest, and had heard what Saxton said. She rose her sword, and slowly advanced, prepared for the worst.

When she got within 5 feet, Degroot jumped, kicked his feet up, grabbed something from the bottom of both his feet, clicked them with a chuckle, landed with his feet back on the ground and began swinging something around in his hands. At first, Sonic thought those were some sort of nunchucks, but quickly realized those were not nunchucks. -_Butterfly knives... under his FEET? That's like having a collar that shoots darts. Fucking stupid. Ridiculous. Pants-on-head retarded._-

With in a moment, Degroot clicked both sides of the knife together and rushed at Percival, slicing and dicing at her. She almost dropped her sword in shock, and began trying to dodge the blows. Her armor wouldn't hold on much longer.

Just when she was almost about to plop on the ground out of breath, Percival grew a smile on her face. Interested as to why she was smiling near her death, Degroot politely asked, continuing to slice and dice at her, "Has anyone ever told you that you look almost innocent when you smile, even though you've killed dozens of men? And may I ask why you're smiling?"

After one more jump back, Percival stopped. She looked ready to pounce, and Degroot was already in the air. Percival twisted slightly, as if getting ready to punch, and with one quick swipe, she grabbed both of the ducks hands, and held him above the ground.

"I'm sorry, but you don't look as innocent as you do now as you look _sinister_..." Degroot gulped.

"To answer your question," Percival began, her smile not changing size. "You're short." Percival pointed her sword at Degroot without a change on her face.

After looking at the razor sharp rapier, Degroot looked Percival in the eye.

And started slurring gibberish.

"EVREABODYZAYS AH'MJUSAH WON AYED BLOODEH MOUNSTER! Yougattatelum ayhin ya-"

Without letting him finish, Percival sent the sword through the duck's neck, with blood splurting out the other side. She let go of his hands, the bird still on her sword like a shishkebab, and snatched the knives from his hands.

"YOU BITCH!"

Percival remembered he was not the only enemy she has to fight, and saw a bolt flying toward her head. Quickly, she pulled down her visor, but the bolt nailed itself into the visor at an angle, and the force sent the visor flying back up.

"YOU'LL BE NEEDIN' ANOTHER USE FOR THAT NECK, PIKER." Saxton shouted, his moderately-hoarse Austrailian accent very noticable. Now, nothing is in the way of him shooting his enemies. No friends to accidentally hit. Now he can show his skill, experience with a crossbow, and all the kinds of tactics he's picked up.

Before Sonic could realize it, Saxton was done loading his next bolt.. Sonic jumped from behind the rock with his shield ready to block. Percival rushed behind Sonic for protection.

Saxton took another bolt, and spun off the top of a canteen at his side. It was filled with oil. The archer quickly dipped the bolt in oil, loaded it, and fired. He shot at the rocky ground, and the bolt bounced back up. The sparks from the metal round hitting the obsidian rock created sparks, which ignited the oil, setting the iron bolt on fire. -_Holy SHIT._- The round embed itself in the lower half of the shield.

"YA BETTER HOLD ON TO YA HEAD, MATE!" Saxton screamed, while taking out an absurdly large steel round. The bolt had to be the crossbow's size and half more. It also had a counterweight for it's large end, and it resembled a pitchfork's prongs. The mere sight of the bolt that Saxton will be shooting at Sonic set him off.

"SON OF A BITCH!" Sonic exclaimed, too scared of it to even look at it through the extremely tough onyx visor. "THAT'S _FUCKING BRUTAL_."

"BRUTAL'S MY MIDDLE NAME, YOU SPIKEY BLUE RAT, AN' HOT HEADED BITCH!" Saxton replied, also dipping the brutal bolt into the canteen of oil, and loading it. "_SAXTON BRUTAL HAAALE!_"

Sonic tilted the shield in hope of deflecting the bolt, but, to his dismay, the now alight bolt blasted through the shield, only stopped by the not-so-on fire pitchfork counterweight. The bolt had pierced, not only Sonic's shield, but the armor on his wrist as well.

-_All my life, I wondered why people scream "I'M ON FIRE" when they are on fire, as if they were Captain Obvious of Stupid Platoon. After some analysis, I have concluded that fire has this magical ability to limit one's thinking to one topic at a time. But, what is stopping them from screaming "ICE CREAAAAAM", what is the one problem that is always on the person's mind, while they are on fire?_-

Sonic flinched, and keeled over. In a panicky confusion, he took off the armor around it, to look at what happened.

Sonic's eyes widened. -_Well, for starters,_- The oil had reached his skin, and was burning. -_How about the fact that THEY'RE ON FIRE?_-

"FIRE!" Sonic screamed, kicking the shield and the bolt away, dropping Caliburn, and began dancing around while tearing off the metal vambrace he had protecting his hand. His glove, and a bit below his wrist was on fire. Sonic wasted no time in trying to get off his metal gauntlet on his right hand, and, in the process, he saw Saxton laughing, firing another normal bolt. Sonic swung his hand like a drunk man and smacked it away with the metal gauntlet, flinging it off by doing so. Sonic rubbed his right hand along his left hand, catching the glove on fire.

"OH I'M BURNIN', IMMAIMMABURNING," Sonic chanted as he began sprinting toward Saxton. Percival was left standing in the dust and smoke. Saxton was late to realize what Sonic was attempting to with fists of fire, and flinched when it hit him. He quickly but shakily reloaded, and fired, but his shot glanced Sonic's armor and flew to the side, as Sonic was running at his signature speed toward the weasel.

Sonic reared his fist back.

"_FIYA FIYA FIYA FIYA!_"

Sonic punched the sniper at approximately five hundred and eight miles per hour with hands that are on fire, breaking Saxton's jaw, all of his teeth, and sent him flying a dozen feet away. Sonic ran up to Saxton and began punching Saxton's face. Sonic's burning hands eventually set Saxton's cheeks on fire as well.

Percival ran up to Sonic and pulled him off by his elbows. Sonic was still screaming.

"CAN'T YOU SEE THAT I'M ON FI-"

_Fwissss..._

Sonic looked at his arms. A bit darker than normal, they hurt, and he could feel dead skin coming off under his fur, but it was no longer covered in fire. There was a short silence, excluding Saxton, who was the one screaming "fire" now. Sonic twisted his arms out of Percival's hands and picked her up from the stomach. "You are _awesome_!"

Percival didn't like it. "Gah, let me down!"

"Fine, fine."

Sonic was cheering, bouncing up and down. "YES! YES!" Sonic danced over to the screaming Saxton. "Jesus Christ, did you see that?"

"_FIREEEEE!_" Saxton answered.

"EXACTLY! IT'S GONE!" Sonic cheered.

"FIIREE!" The not-so-purple-now weasel replied.

"Oh gawds, ZAXTUN?"

"... Uh oh."

The two knights turned and looked at Rachel, who had a horrified look on her face.

"You... VUXS!" She screamed. Sonic noticed she had blood coming from her left hand. She ran back to behind a large group of rocks.

"... Should we go after her?" Percival asked as Caliburn hopped over to Sonic's side. -_I never got how Caliburn could balance himself._-

"Sonic, that trick with the fire was the most stupid thing I have seen anyone ever even think of doing." Caliburn ranted, before looking at the burning body. "... And work..."

Sonic was wondering what the blood was about. "... Yeah, let's go finish up these traitors." Sonic grabbed Caliburn, and followed the mage behind the rocks.

When they turned the corner, Sonic saw the most disturbing thing he had seen all day. Percival gasped.

There Rachel was, on a mat, with many symbols written in blood. She was saying something Sonic could not place, and the whole thing just made Sonic feel very eerie.

Sonic, due to spending whatever free time he has not running -_which is eighty percent of the week_- on the internet and playing video games, managed to figure out what she was doing. Percival, being a holy knight, also knew.

Rachel was doing black magic, to summon a demon.

Percival was downright disgusted. "You heathen!" Percival spat, flicking down her visor, and flicking up her sword. "You make me sick! I'll have your HEAD for this!" -_Oh god YES, I like where this is going. LET US PURGE THIS CULTIST HERETIC BEFORE SHE SPREADS KAY-OHSS ACROSS THE WORLD._-

Sonic did not say a thing. He dashed forward, with Caliburn raised above his head. She saw Rachel start saying the spell faster as Sonic went at his top speed yet again, trying to stop her.

Sonic was within her summoning circle.

"...-" -_... Holy shit. She really is a fucking Cultist._-

"NOPE."

Sonic slashed Rachel as he ran by, the moment Sonic left the circle, something happened. Kind of like an explosion, but not ground shaking. The fire was so thick and bright you could not see through it. It was a moment where no one could tell what was going on, not Percival, Caliburn, nor Rachel.

When the fire dissipated, it was replaced with darkness. No smoke, no nothing, in place of the fire was an inconceivable mass of nothing. Being at the edge, Rachel was holding onto rock sticking out of the ground to avoid being sucked in.

Sonic stared into the void. Sonic took out his bow. "What the fuck is this shit? What the fuck is that? What the fuck is going on?" Sonic said aloud. "Percival, do you see-" Sonic stopped as he saw something walk out of it.

"NO!"

Sonic quickly readied an arrow on his bow, and when out came the crystalline hedgehog with red eye whites and green eyes from within, the arrow went soaring into his mouth, and stuck out the back of his head.

"FUCK NO!"

Another went into his right red eye.

"FUCK YOU!"

Percival came around the void, to see Sonic shooting arrows into the thing that came from inside. She shivered in fear, but regardless, she began sneaking up to it's side as another arrow hit it, this time in it's left eye.

"FUCK YOUR_ SHIT_!"

Sonic readied a fourth arrow, and Percival readied herself.

"GO TO _HELL_," Sonic shouted. "AND TELL YOUR BOSS, _I'M COMIN' FOR HIM NEXT!_"

Percival couldn't wait. She swung her sword at the unknowing demon's neck. With one slash, it flew off, into the air, with the body standing still. Sonic then shot the flying head with the arrow, sending it flying back into the void. Satisfied, Sonic nodded to Percival. Percival slapped the still-standing headless body with the flat side of her sword, which slowly fell back into the void.

Percival then looked at the poor yellow cat girl, holding onto a rock at the edge of the void. "Scum. Worthless cultist scum. What makes you think you'll win when demons enter play?"

Rachel was on the verge of wailing, and Percival could tell. Percival would not give her a lick of mercy, however.

"Rot in hell, you satanist slut."

With that, the knight stomped on the cat's fingers with the heel of her boot, twisting it to grind her hand into the obsidian rock she was holding onto. After she could tell that she had ground the rock through the cat's hand, Percival raised her foot, and Rachel flew into the portal.

Percival, seeing that her job was done being anywhere near the gate to hell, proceeded to dash away from the void, and over to Sonic. Sonic, still mildly confused as to what just happened, just began walking over to the gliders.

-_When you don't know how to react, don't._-


	16. Flirtin' With Disaster

I'm sorry for the massive delay, I got this error when trying to update. Someone helped me out with it. So, in a mixture of "I'm sorry", "I'm starting to think my chapters are too short for once a week updates", and "this site is being ass", I'm tossing out 4 chapters.

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**CHAPTER 15: FLIRTIN' WITH DISASTER**

-_No, seriously, what the flying fuck WAS that? I just killed Demoman, Sniper, a bear, that one guy from my dream, and fucking Cultist-chan. If my average day was that random, me and Eggman would be competing for WORLD DOMINATION._-

Sonic walked merrily down the dirt and gravel road. Satisfied that he beat 3 people, one while on fire, and a demon, all within thirty minutes made him feel very satisfied. Behind him trailed Caliburn and Percival.

-_Now to start my musical again._-

Sonic was singing quietly to himself. "I've got my pedal to the floor and my laugh was runnin' faster..."

"Sir Sonic," Percival spoke up, interrupting Sonic. -_HOW ABOUT I SLAP YOUR SHIT?_- "So... I'm going to be your... Slave?"

"You can put it like that, if you want." Sonic said. "I prefer 'indentured servant'. Kind of like a slave except mostly for work, and other than that, I saved your life, so you owe me. And since you reminded me I am going to tell you the rules."

"First off," Sonic began. "I am not a 'sir'. I work for a living, your moron. You will call me Sonic, and only Sonic. Second, you will follow my orders, unless I was fooling around at the time, then don't take me seriously. Other than that, you can do what you want so long as you ask, other than run away or try to kill me. You'd fail those, by the way."

There was a moment of silence. "And?" Percival asked.

"Oh, nothing else, at the moment. If I think there should be more, I'll add them, but right now I don't see a reason to." Sonic answered. "Could have been worse for you, you know."

Percival felt relieved. "Alright..."

After a short pause, Sonic went back to singing, this time a little bit louder. "We're flirtin' with disaster, y'all know what I mean. And the way we run our lives, it makes no sense to me. I don't know 'bout yourself, or what you wanna be, yeah, but when we gamble with our time we choose our destiny."

Percival raised an eyebrow, interested. -_Since you don't normally see people singing southern rock songs in medieval times. Next thing you know, Bon Jovi wakes up in the Wild West and David Bowie is born in a farm pen and visited by three kings in 0 A.D._-

"I'm travelin' down that lonesome road, I feel like I'm draggin' a heavy load. Yeah, I've tried to turn my head away. Feel 'bout the same most every day..."

Sonic turned his head to Percival.

"Know what I'm talkin' 'bout?" Sonic asked.

Percival looked at him strangely, but then nodded.

-_Alright, I'm done with the singing, for now at least. Oh, speaking of singing, did I ever tell you about how after I beat Chaos, we gathered around a camp fire, on the highway, told our stories, got into a huge argument over whose was true, but then I broke the argument by turning on the radio, and we all started singing along to Bohemian Rhapsody? Shit was as awesome as it sounds. The "Galileo" part was the best, followed by "Easy come, easy go, little high, little low."_-

"Oh, and... that vambrace." Percival went on.

"Oh, you mean this?" Sonic said, bringing his arm up, to show it.

Percival jogged up to Sonic's side to get a better look at it. "There's a blade that comes from that. Saw you kill the bear with it. You didn't take it off during the fight."

"Yeah, I forgot." Sonic took a moment to make the blade come out. "Pretty dangerous to forget you have this thing. For example, I fought you with it on. But, I didn't use it, so it's like I never had it during the fight."

"But you did!" Percival argued.

Sonic retracted it and shrugged. "The reason it was fists only was because –well, other than because fistfights are awesome– so that you saw everything your opponent has. This thing is so hidden, I even forgot I had it. You weren't threatened by a blade flinging into your neck, I wasn't either, it didn't effect how you, or me, fought, and because of that, it slides."

Percival was ready to keep on arguing, and was thinking of asking for a rematch, but after realizing she'd probably lose again in a similar humiliating defeat she had the last time, and that he was fighting for a cause she supported, she grumbled and looked down at the ground.

They had walked back to the city, by then it was almost night. They were passing by the castle, when Sonic stopped to examine it. He saw underworld minions at the front door.

"Percival, here's a test." Sonic said, pointing at the two beings. "Find a small blue and yellow... thing, I'm not sure what you'd call it, it can fly, they have these dots over their heads-"

"Chao?" Percival suggested.

Sonic chuckled. "Oh, we call them the same thing where I come from. Convenient. Anyway, I want you to find a light blue and yellow chao, named Riley. Think he's held up in there. Bring him out to me, and I'll bring you to the Blacksmith's place. He's a nice kid, gives me a place to sleep, sure he'd give you one too."

Percival nodded. "Alright." She began to march over there.

"But," Sonic continued. "Only if you come back with Riley. I'll leave when I get bored out of my mind, and you must stay in the castle if I leave without you."

"... And this is a bad thing? Sleeping in the castle?" She joked.

"Actually, no," Sonic said, turning on his sarcasm. "Tonight you will sleep in a castle full of enemies that pop out of nowhere, randomly, after you just took one of their hostages, all lead by your king which probably knows you're fighting alongside me now. Go do that."

"Alright alright, I get it. I'll be back in a few minutes."

And with that, Percival dashed off. She made short work of the underworld knights at the doorway, and dashed in. Sonic casually walked up to the spot where the monsters were and began to wait.

"You're not going in with her?" Caliburn asked.

"No. The good thing about risking your life for the greater good is that you can persuade people to fighting something you don't want to all by saying 'fine, next time I won't do anything'." Sonic answered, resting his back up against the bridge's wall. "If they have the guts to fight. 'Sides, she's getting a taste of vengeance." Sonic arched his back, cracking it loudly. "And I'm not getting in the way."

"Hmm. That's not bad at all. Earlier, I thought you were going to make her your se-"

"Get your _mind out of the gutter_, you cock-mangling _maggot_."

…

Percival bursted into the cellar, and found cages and cages of men, women, a few chaos, and chests with all their belongings. Percival slashed all the cages open, and the chests, and allowed the crowd to collect their things. Percival was roughly pushing her way through the crowd, looking for the chao.

"Riley? Riley?" Percival called.

"Yeah?" Riley answered.

"I'm looking for a chao named Riley, not _you_."

"Oh, sorry. Hey, someone took my money!"

With the crowd becoming much harder to traverse, with fights starting over people accidentally grabbing other people's possessions, Percival was quickly losing her patience and focus. She kicked something, and it jerked back.

"Sorry," Percival apologized to a person she kicked.

"What for?" The citizen looked down, and Percival followed her eyes. She saw a chao, looking back up at her with a sad look..

"Finally..." Percival sighed in relief, grabbing the chao. She began to fight her way out of the crowd. "Thank you!"

As the knight walked away, the citizen stood there confused.

As Percival climbed out of the cellar and joined the crowd of people leaving the castle and into the city, she looked at the chao.

"Ooo?" Riley let out.

Percival couldn't help but think it was cute. She tickled it's stomach a bit, giggling. It curled up, and flew out of her hands. It began following her from above.

They made it out the door, and walked over to Sonic, who was sitting beside Caliburn on the wall of the bridge.

"I see you didn't only get Riley, but everyone else. And, it looks like you got them their stuff, too. Nice job." Sonic hopped off the bridge wall. "Now, let me show you to the blacksmith's place."

They began walking through the streets, and immediately the town seemed much more alive. Parties were thrown to welcome back the captives, underworld begins were being beaten senseless by mobs of twenty people, and people began to play music. It was fun for Sonic just walking through the crowd filled streets. -_Again, I love this city. When I'm done having fun with my life and settle down somewhere, I want to live in a place like this, a bunch of oil-rig-like buildings, or a cyberpunk city._-

Eventually, they made it to the Blacksmith's place. Sonic knocked at the door, and waited. No answer.

"Hold up," Sonic said, handing Caliburn to Percival. "Smithy's probably asleep. Kid works hard."

Sonic jumped onto the window sill, and began to climb to the roof.

"He lets you do that?" Percival asked.

"Yeah." Sonic answered. "Not sure about what I'm 'bout to do though."

Sonic climbed onto the roof, and pulled open the door that was on the roof. He climbed down the stairs and shut the roof. He was brought into his bedroom, which the blacksmith was not there. He climbed downstairs, and the blacksmith was not in the living room either. Shrugging off Leon's absence, Sonic unlocked the door and opened it.

"Smithy ain't here, probably out doing something, but come on in." Sonic invited. Percival came in and gave Caliburn back to Sonic, who immediately put him against a wall.

"When he comes back, we'll tell him that we found Riley, but when his girlfriend comes along, – you listening, Riley? – he'll say he fought the underworld knights for him," Sonic went over to the Blacksmith's workbench, pulled a drawer, and pulled out the bronze dagger. "with _this_. Alright?"

"Chao?"

"Good. I don't know about you, Percival, but I beat up three people and a demon in thirty minutes today, one while being on fire, and I am going to drop like a sack of rocks in a few minutes." Sonic walked downstairs to where the mercenaries stayed. He looked at all their previous possessions, admiring the thousands of rings they managed to get by smashing pottery. After taking off his armor and putting it in a corner, the blue hedgehog fell into one of the cots.

"Sonic, where do I sleep?" Percival asked, looking at the unlit fireplace.

"In here, there's a bunch of cots."

"... No privacy, I take it?" She said with a frustrated sigh.

"Nope. I'd rather not have you woken up by Smithy with a knife in his hand for sneaking into his house and sleeping in his living room, and I'd rather not sleep on the floor _again_."

Percival went and got ready for bed, sitting on a cot across the room.

"You know," Percival began, flicking off a metal boot. "You are a wicked person."

"Is that a compliment?" Sonic said, his voice muffled by the cot. "Any specific reasons?"

"You killed one of my friends, made the other start hiding in a shed for a whole year, killed, and before that, probably angered, your mercenaries, since they attacked us, and enslaved me."

Sonic silently chuckled. "I'm sorry, I made Gawain a monk?"

"Yes." Percival answered plainly, being serious.

"Well," Sonic began. "That will be a problem, with my plans. Oh, and about the mercenaries, that's whatcha get for double-crossin' me."

"I don't think you can get double-crossed over a bar bet." Caliburn commented from the workshop.

"Gah, shut up." Sonic laughed.

And so they laid there, for about thirty minutes, when Sonic, just about to fall asleep, heard Percival rustling.

"Can't sleep?"

"The noise they're making... Gah."

Outside the workshop, the city was still celebrating the return of the hundreds of civilians. They had began a festival in the middle of the streets, and could be heard from inside. -Sure, start a party at TWO IN THE MORNING WHY DON'TCHA.-

"And I wasn't even tired, really..."

"In the bag in the middle of the room, there's a couple hundred rings, plus some other stuff you could sell. Left over things from the gang I got."

"... You looted their possessions?"

"You never know what you might find. Anyway, if you can't sleep, go out, do... something, I don't know what you people do in your spare time." -_Seriously, what did they do in their free time, other than play 'don't catch the plague'?_-

Percival sat up in her cot, looking across the pitch black room.

"If you plan on pulling an all nighter, here's tomorrow's orders. First, go get the former Knights of the Round Table, tell them the truth. Then go tell Gawain you beat me, and are going to Avalon to kill the King. If he doesn't join, light his house on fire, then take him out of there."

Percival stood up, and snapped her fingers. A small flame rose, like a candle, lighting up the dark room slightly. She saw the bag, and began to scrounge in it. "Burn down his house? Really, Sonic?"

"He wants to meditate inside that house for a year, right? Well, it's not going to last that long, and you can't just sit in a pile of ashes for a year, so he now has the choice to leave. While you're doing that, I'll see what I can do about getting you guys a ride to Avalon. I'll be wearing my armor, something Gawain hasn't seen, so if you see me, don't blow my cover. Find the boat I'm worked my magic on, and ship off. There, you and all of your friends will attack the king. Once you've attacked, I'll be ready with my own plan."

Percival had grabbed a few dozen rings, and stood up.

"Understood." She replied quietly. Sonic pried his attention from her to think of music he liked. She began walking to the stairway, stopped, and turned around. "And Sonic..." She began.

Sonic paused his internal MP3 player. -_~Tonight, the streets are red, the lights are bl-~_- "Yeah?"

"Thank you."

Percival shook the flame away from her finger, and began walking up the stairs. -_...~-lue and blinding, no sign of the good doctor...~_- Sonic then began to drift off into sleep.


	17. Hyper Bash Brethren

I'm sorry for the massive delay, I got this error when trying to fix it. Someone helped me out with it. So, I'm tossing out 4 chapters.

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**CHAPTER 16: HYPER BASH BRETHREN  
**

"How come only _you_ get to fight here?"

Sonic was relaxing on a beach, laying on a foldable chair under an umbrella, and his friends crowded around him. They were in Defelno Plaza, as Sonic was invited to the "Super Smash Brothers" event, he decided to invite his friends along to watch. Shadow was complaining about how they were not able to compete in any of the events.

"Because I'm the one invited by the great whatever-it-is guy. Not you." Sonic answered. He went back to drinking his can of root beer.

"Still, can't you reason with him? Strike a deal?" Shadow ranted on.

"How about I try and he turns us all into trophies?"

"I'd rather not, my life is still enough as it is." Knuckles said.

"See, good ol' hot tempered gets it. Why can't you?"

Shadow slumped down. "Because I'm _bored_, and I'd like to participate too."

"Maybe next time, Mister Unsmiley."

Disappointed, Shadow left, grumbling off into the background. Watching as he went, Tails could help but wonder. "Seriously, though. Why can't more people participate? I'm sure we'd put up as good of a fight as everyone else." Tails asked.

"Good question, but I don't know, they say they have a deadline or something and the huge mansion we book at is kinda small." Sonic replied. "I'd love to see more people in it, but more people I know would equal less sitcom potential, which is how they get above half of their revenue."

Tails' eyelids evened out. "You'd think the festival itself would give them enough money."

"You'd think so, but-"

"_GAME! ALLLLRIGHT EVERYONE_, listen up! This next match-up, straight from the Master's hand, will be..."

The entire beach went silent, save for the waves, wind, and Aphex Twin CD playing on Sonic's boom box, as the announcer opened a letter. Sonic readjusted his position on the chair, and smiled, wondering if he'll be called up next.

"... BwAHAHAHA! Oh," The announcer laughed as he read the orders. "Oh, this could be tragic. Alright! This next match is... FREE FOR ALL! EVERYONE! READY..."

Sonic removed his sunglasses dramatically as everyone on the beach either gasped or reached for a weapon.

"Speak of the devil..." Amy sighed. She realized she didn't have much time to talk, so she spoke fast. "Truce?"

Sonic got up, and took the umbrella out of the sand. He could hear a squeal of delight coming from where Shadow had walked off to.

"GO!"

Sonic pulled the umbrella top shut, and swung around with it. With one swipe, he landed a hit on Tails, Knuckles, and Amy, and knocked them into the air.

"Sorry, but there can only be one!" Sonic shouted as he opened the umbrella to deflect a turnip being thrown at him.

He turned around and swatted away an advancing glittery vampire with the handle of the umbrella. Sonic proceeded to wind up punch the dazed enemy off of the beach, an explosion blasting the opposite direction. Sonic then threw the umbrella at a cardboard box, and, to Sonic's displeasure, the cardboard box collapsed.

"Oh my god what am I doing?" Sonic asked himself as he threw kicked a boy with a snake in the neck while throwing a smoke bomb at a stand of fruit, revealing a long haired soldier in watermelon camouflage. "Wait a second, this festival ended a year ago."

He realized it was a dream, and went lucid.

A tank crashed into a building next to a cliff. Inside, a blue space marine slammed controls, shouting at the female voiced AI controlling the tank.

"Locking on, locking on..." The AI repeated.

"No, unlock UNLOCK!" The pilot ordered.

"Firing."

With a blast, Sonic turned around just in time to see a man wearing a red suit and ski mask, raising a butterfly knife, poised to stab, get blown into a fine red mist by the tank.

"SON OF A BITCH!" Sonic shouted.

"SON OF A BITCH!" The dozens of people behind the assassin screamed.

"Son ovva bitch..." The pilot sighed. "Sheila, POWER DOWN. Or I will do _UNSPEAKABLE THINGS_ on you the next time you get repaired. _Unspeakable..._"

"Powering down." Sheila replied.

As the barrel of the tank lowered in it's shutdown process, the soldier stammered. "U-uh-um-uh, can I get out?"

Sonic watched the tank power down, and recognized the pilot. He was about to say his name, when someone from the crowd spoke first.

"His landmaster shut down, get him!" A wolf from the pack howled.

The blue soldier continued to stutter. "Uh, landmaster? No, this is just a tank. Not a master of any lands. Or areas. Or places _in general_."

In a moment, the entire crowd that was on the beach began charging the tank. Instead of sensing fear like a normal person, the pilot reacted with joy.

"Oh boy, am I famous? Yes! The Great Caboose! Oh I am such a turn on for the ladies."

"TURNING ON..."

"See, I even turn Sheila on, huhuhuh."

"Locking on, locking on..."

"Oh crap, I DON'T WANT TO KILL MY FANS!"

"Firing."

"NOOOOOOOO!"

The pilot being completely unable to control it, the massive cannon fired. It directly missed the crowd and went straight for Sonic. Unable to react due to the sheer randomness of his dream, Sonic flew backwards, into a bell tower. His head smashed the bell, causing it to ring, and he fell face first down the shaft. He landed with a thud, and groaned.

"How come lucid dreams always fuck me up?" Sonic complained to no one. "Why does my mind drift off, why can't I have dreams featuring what normal people dream of, lik-"

"You wish you could have normal dreams."

Sonic looked up, and saw the same person from his last dream and the demon from today.

"Dammit Mephilifisis," Sonic grunted getting up. "You and your shit has been getting on my nerves lately. What is with you? What drives you?"

"Oh, the fun of ruining people's lives. That's what. And your life. Especially yours. You brought me down to nothing but a memory. A suppressed one, too."

"Okay, okay, whatever it is, I don't care about it. You bring tales from the future, yes? Tell me the adventures of every day life in post-apocalyptic times, then."

"I'll start with two important individuals in that time. First, we have Silver the Hedgehog."

"Naive Batman wannabe. Alright, I can see him making your ass hurt. Next."

"Next, we have Blaze the Cat. They're wanderers who are trying to make the world better, by fighting the Eggman empire, the current emperor being Eggman Nega, and other corrupt leaderships that exist there. It all started, when a demon named Iblis is released. He-"

"Bullshit." Sonic cut him off. "One, Blaze is from a different dimension. Not only has she told me, but I've been there, and that shit isn't anywhere near apocalyptic. Two, Eggman Nega is the same thing, he has been to my dimension's future before, accident or not, but he doesn't do that full time."

"But it happens."

"But you're shitting me, barrels by the minute."

"If you don't believe me, I could take over the dream and sho-"

"Can it, faker, when you are in my head, you are in _my world. You are not welcome in MY world!_"

Mephiles paused. "... Well. We seem to have a predicament here."

"Yeah, the predicament being _you suck_."

Randomly, Sonic smashed an aluminum baseball bat on Mephiles' face. The force behind the hit shattered all the crystals growing out of the demon.

"Oh wow," Sonic began to taunt. "You're a recolor of a recolor. How did I _not_ notice that?"

Mephiles grunted in pain, followed by a growl in anger.

"Oooh, scary. I've met a guy that called himself 'Ganja the Hedgehog' and he seemed more original than you."

Mephiles began breathing heavily.

"Oh, what? You gonna cry? YOU GONNA CRY NOW?"

Mephiles began to turn.

"Yeah I dare ya, rage quit. Make us both happy."

Without warning, Mephiles fired a large beam of energy from his hand. It seemed, and was, immensely powerful.

Sonic took it like a man.

Mephiles' eyes widened. "... What?"

"Mephiles, Mephiles, Mephiles... I don't think you understand that it's my head, and my dream, I can tank whatever you throw at me if I want it, and you're just only part of it. Now, shut the fuck up, get the fuck out, and leave me to myself, or you can get the fuck out of here."

With a glare, Mephiles turned around and rose his hand.

"While you're here, I've gotta ask." Sonic brought up quickly. "What the hell man? You were summoned out of my head by the yellow cat girl, and after we chopped your head off and performed terrible acupuncture on you with arrows, you're still alive?"

"Well," Mephiles began. "It's not as simple as that."

"You grew a new head like that guy from Men in Black, didn't you?"

"No. That wasn't _me_."

"Then who was it? The Tooth Fairy?"

"This book has characters taken from your mind to fill the places of the characters. 'Actors', I guess you could call them. The demon you slayed had my body as my body as it's actor. The actors are not always spot on to what they should be, matching only personalities."

"Hmm. Shoulda figured that."

Mephiles readied to snap his fingers, and at that moment, Sonic couldn't resist.

Sonic threw the bat at Mephiles' head. "_BONK_!"

And everything went black.


	18. Burn It to the Ground

**CHAPTER 17: BURN IT TO THE GROUND**

Sonic arose from the cot, muttering curse words. He looked around, to see that Percival wasn't there.

Shrugging it off, thinking she pulled an all nighter, he began looking in the bag to see if there was anything left over that he could sell. He found nothing to sell, but plenty to keep, including several crossbow rounds -_as well as the crossbow bolts from Hell._-, dozens of throwing and collapsible knives, and a book. The book read "The Journal of Saxton Hale".

Intrigued, Sonic opened the book and began viewing it's contents. Immediately, he noticed that Saxton was carrying this book around for the last decade, by looking at the first entry. Thinking, by that, it's going to be filled to the brim, it will be too long of a read for a morning, and put it off to the side. -_I'll bring it out of the book for later._-

Sonic, finally realizing he had the morning off, put the items back into the bag immediately hopped back into bed and began to think about what he'll do when he gets out.

-_Okay, first thing's first: Check the time. I know it was about, twelve o'clock, on a Sunday, so I'll just do the math when I get out of here, see if it's different from my actual time spent in here, if it's shorter than what I thought it was, continue experiments immediately. Second, write down results, compared to my normal run, and use the same reference for all my future runs. Third, find something to do with my clones. Probably put them somewhere no one goes anymore, give them a shovel, tell them to dig a hole, and make an UNDERGROUND DWARF CASTLE. YES I AM A GENIUS._-

* * *

Percival led four former Knights of the Round Table. They left when King Arthur was overcome by the power of the Scabbard and turned into the Black Knight.

First, there was Sir Galahad, a white hedgehog, donning armor as white as himself. Galahad was a companion of Percival's as they were searching for the Grail, and was very willing to reunite with her to defeat Arthur.

Second, there was Sir Bors the Younger, a black armadillo with a red shell underneath brown armor, who searched for the grail alongside Percival and Galahad as well. Although cautious about Percival's honesty of the matter, he could not bring himself to leave Galahad alone with such a deadly warrior in the case she was lying.

Third, there was Sir Lamorak, a green armored hawk. Like Percival, he had a fiery temper, but unlike her, he did not like hiding it behind nobility or rationality. He once slayed thirty knights within five minutes, fueled by his uncontrollable rage. As soon as Percival mentioned killing the king, he cried out "yes".

Lastly, standing tall among the rest of the knights, stood Galehaut, his armor thick, black and red with yellow lines on the edges. He had once fought against all the knights he was walking with, as the leader of an army, and he could have easily won considering his man power, but he could not bring himself to kill such skilled knights, thinking the world needs more people like them, and surrendered. He had a symbol on his shoulder, but no one near here could begin to guess what it meant. His approach to Percival's plea for assistance was as the same as Bors', but realizing Lamorak alone could handle any ambush Arthur threw, he joined.

"Gentlemen, we should get Gawain as well." Percival brought up.

Bors walked on with his hands behind his head. "Alright, let's get him."

"But, Sir Bors, there is a problem." Percival said.

"And what may that be?" Bors asked.

Percival sighed, and looked ahead. "After the fight with Sonic, he abandoned knighthood to twelve months of meditation."

Bors put his arms down. "Oh. How are we going to get him, then?"

Percival paused, wondering how to put Sonic's plan. "Well... A friend of mine told me, 'if something happens and destroys the house, they can't just stay there for the rest of the vowed time.'"

Galehaut interjected. "ARE YOU IMPLYING WE ARE GOING TO SET FIRE TO OUR FRIEND GAWAIN'S HUT?"

"There's no nicer way to get him out." Percival replied.

"ALTHOUGH THAT IS CORRECT, I CANNOT PROCESS A MORE RUDE WAY TO ACQUIRE GAWAIN EITHER." Galehaut retorted.

"Yes, and he could be injured doing this, or he may spot us lighting his house." Lamorak added.

"Those are true, but it's the only way to get him out now." Galahad pointed out.

"So, should we go for burning his house down to get him, or should we leave our friend Gawain at peace?" Bors asked.

Lamorak spoke first. "I don't like the idea of such tactics against a friend of ours."

"It'd only make sense for him to help fix a problem he helped make." Percival answered.

"We need to reform the Knights of the Round Table afterword, now that a common cause of leaving has been ridden of. So yes." Galahad said.

"AS MUCH AS I DETEST SUCH HARSH MEASURES, WE SHOULD GET OUR FRIEND GAWAIN BEFORE ACHIEVING VENGEANCE." Galehaut boomed.

"That settles it, then." Bors said to his comrades. "How are we going to go about burning his house down?"

Percival waved her hand in front of her, leaving fire in it's wake. "I would guess I would have to _accidentally_ set something alight whilst trying to persuade Gawain into coming with us."

"Good." Bors said.

They walked through the dense forest, until finally, they had come to a clearing in the forest, and by the river was a cabin. It was Gawain's cabin. They approached it, and knocked. Gawain answered.

"Hell-oh. It's yo- You brought the former knights! Come in, come in!" Gawain greeted.

The group had entered the small cabin. It was small, but everyone could sit down, while the large Galehaut had to stand.

"What's the occasion?" Gawain asked delightfully.

"Sir Gawain, I've defeated Sonic." Percival lied, without a trace of it on her face.

"What?" Gawain was dumbfounded. "Percival... you won? With the weapon he used against me?"

"He tossed it aside beforehand, and challenged me to a fist duel. That's besides the point, however." Percival told her friend. "Before it was finished, he went on about the error in our ways. He went on about how we knew what the King was doing was wrong, but we were either too scared to fight back, or not willing enough. He told me that if I killed him, I would kill the last hero this world will see."

Gawain scratched his chin. "... And...?"

Percival sighed. "He wanted us to stop being loyal to the king. He wanted us to fight him, for the greater good. Like you had said we should when we first witnessed his skill. So when I let him go, bruised and beaten. Before he did, he told me one thing."

"And that was?"

"'_You started this mess. It's only fair you clean it up._'"

After a moment of silence, Gawain shook his head.

"No, I am sorry, I can't." Gawain declined.

Percival argued. "So you're going to sit here, doing nothing, while we make things right?"

"I am sorry, but I've made up my mind. I've vowed to stay here for twelve months to meditate, I cannot break it."

"But if you fix your error yourself, you won't need to!"

"I'VE MADE UP MY MIND." Gawain boomed.

Percival tossed her hands in the air, giving up. "If someone else has the patience to argue with him, do it, I can't see this going far."

"Calm down, Percival." Gawain said, worried.

Percival walked over to a table, next to a window, which Galahad was sitting in. He got out of the seat and walked over to her spot on the bed to sit down. Percival tilted the chair back and put her feet on the table, arms crossed.

Galahad sighed. "This can't be the only way, Gawain."

"I promised God twelve months of devotion, and I'll give him that."

"God is forgiving, and Percival's right, if you helped start this mess, it's only fair if you cleaned it."

"That's not how it works."

"I'm sure God will understand."

Gawain scoffed. "God will understand our assisted suicide, sure."

"What are you saying, Gawain?"

"It's suicide going against the king how he is-"

Percival swung her head over to look at Gawain.

"Are you saying all six of us can't defeat one man?"

Gawain began to explain. "Since Lancelot died, we-"

Percival slammed her foot on the table. She was legitimately angry at this point.

"We're not weak! We're strong! Sir Lamorak alone can kill 10 men with knives strapped to his feet and his hands tied behind his back!"

"Flattering." Lamorak gloated, with a snide smile.

"Shut up, peacock. I'm trying to make a point." Percival spat back.

"Percival, calm down, please!" Galahad pleaded.

Lamorak panicked a response. "I'm just saying! Yeesh, feisty little b-"

_CRACK_

Percival had raised her feet, and slammed them on the table, shattering it into pieces.

"_I'LL FUCKING COOK YOU._"

Everyone was staring at her, shocked. Lamorak had heard the insult many times before, but this time was especially frightening. Gawain's eyes weren't strained on her, however.

He was focused on the fire she just started.

"Oh God! Get the pail! Get some water! Put it out!" He shouted.

Percival hopped out the poorly done glassless window next to the table as Gawain tossed her a bucket. She ran down to the stream to get water. Everyone in the house had evacuated. Except for Gawain, of course.

"Gawain, you're still in there?" Bors asked worriedly. No response.

Percival had came back with the bucket, filled with water. She walked up to the window next to the fire, and set the outside on fire, using the smoke as cover. She then began attempting to lazily douse the fires. When the fire had began to visibly burn away the wood, Percival had tossed the bucket aside. She began to sit and watch as the fire burned around Gawain, who avoided the fire like the plague.

When the house was finally burned down to the ground, leaving nothing but ashes and inflammable junk lying around, Galahad stepped over the charred logs to reach Gawain, sitting in the center of the ashes and smoke.

"Well Gawain," said the white knight as he pulled the echidna up from his shoulder. "You can't stay in the house anymore. Because it's no longer a house."

"I have _eyes_, Galahad." Gawain grumbled. "I can see that this is a pile of ash, and I can see where you're trying to go with this."

Bors stepped in. "Well, will you? It's partly your fault all of this happened."

Gawain rolled his eyes, as he began digging in the ash. After a moments notice, he had pried his well worn and soot-covered armor. Covered in the ash of his burned home, it looks as though it changed shades.

"I will. Under one condition." Gawain said, swinging his chain mail around to get the ashes out of it.

"And what may that be?" Percival asked.

"_Don't ever come to my house again_." Gawain answered, spitting to the side afterward, which was noticeably black from soot.


	19. SS Liar

**CHAPTER 18: S.S. LIAR**

-_... If that happens, then I'm sure my friends would understand. I'm sure Amy would be pissed off that I 'cheated' on all of my friends for an army of clones, but when I can tell them to do everything, I'm sure she won't mind. Vote Sonic for dictator. Anyway..._-

Sonic arose from the bed, and went upstairs. Riley was sitting in the home-made armchair by the unlit fireplace, looking lonesome. Sonic, curious as to why he was still there, searched the house. Leon was not to be found.

"Dang, what happened to Smithy?" Sonic asked aloud, hoping for the blacksmith to come out of somewhere to answer.

"He could have been taken away..." Caliburn suggested.

"But Percival freed EVERYONE, and I'm sure if she didn't get everyone, the others did." Sonic debated. "It's weird. Why would Smithy be gone so long? Where would he go?"

Caliburn would have scratched his chin, if he had arms. Or a chin. "Perhaps that 'superman' thing didn't go so well with the fox...?"

Sonic shook his head as he began putting on his armor. "Nah, the kid should be able to take a joke. And running away over that? I'd hope he's not that pathetic."

"I assume you are right." Caliburn gave in. "But there has to be a reason."

As Sonic put on his helmet, he came up with another answer.

"Or he's spent the night with his girlfriend. Party went on all night, and..." Sonic looked out the poor quality glass window. It was the kind of glass that was used to make the pictures in churches, except this was much clearer. "Wait, is it _still_ going on?"

Caliburn's dull voice became slightly more cheerful. "Perhaps that explains it. You can't blame him after what he's done for us."

Sonic smiled as he grabbed Caliburn, and headed for the door. "Right. Kid deserves some fun. Anyway, I need a boat."

* * *

Gawain was now traveling with the Knights of the Round Table. Sonic had taken his axes, so he had to arm himself with a standard steel sword.

"Now that we have everyone, we shouldn't waste time." Percival began to order. "I hear Arthur is in Faraway Avalon. So, let's go to the port in the city, and try to get a boat to charter us over there."

"AFFIRMATIVE." Galehaut said as he began to think of the specifics himself.

Bors spoke up. "And what if no one wants to give up their boat?"

"Nonsense, we'll get a boat." Lamorak answered, flicking around a fan with razors on the ends of the feathers with one hand, his other on his sheathed steel sword.

"And what, leave the captain and crew there bleeding on the boardwalk while we ship off?" Bors replied snidely.

"That is an answer." Lamorak noted. "A _bad_ answer, but an answer is an answer."

Percival sighed."Look, there will be a boat willing to bring us over, violence or not. Let's just get there and do what we can do."

"Yes, let's stop bickering." Galahad agreed. "Figure it out as we go along, it isn't that hard to kill someone with our numbers and skill level. We should all know that."

After a moment of silence, the group answered in unison. "Agreed."

About an hour was spent traveling back into the city. It was a bright day at noon, the sun glistened on the water. The boardwalk was crowded, and the ships were busier than normal now.

Percival noticed a knight in red and white armor begin walking down the pier from one of the ships. She recognized the armor was Sonic's. It covered him so much, you couldn't see any of his body, and no one recognized him. She began to walk toward him.

"Hello, friend." Percival said politely as she walked up to her masked master.

-_AhHEM_-

"Oh, hello, Percival." Sonic said from behind the tinted visor, in a light and low Italian accent. "These are your friends?" -_HOLY SHIT THAT ACTUALLY WASN'T BAD._-

"Fellow knights." She corrected.

"Ah, yes. My name is Ezio." Sonic lied. "Ezio Auditore." -_This is going to be my voice in that lady killer run I mentioned earlier. I mean holy shit this is awesome._-

"I am Sir Bors."

"Sir Galahad."

"I am Sir Lamorak, one of the Round Table's finest!"

"Don't be so full of yourself, Lamorak." Percival ordered.

"SIR GALEHAUT, PLEASURE TO MEET YOU SIR EZIO."

"Galehaut," Sonic began, staring at the giant knight. -_What the fuck is Omega doing in 500 A.D.?_- "When Percival mentioned you, I imagined you to be a bit... less musclebound."

"COMPLIMENT RECEIVED WELL. THANK YOU."

"Anyway, you wish to go to Faraway Avalon?" Sonic asked.

"Yes. To slay the king." Percival answered.

"Alright," Sonic said as he rested his hand on top of a box. Inside rests the unconscious body of the crew captain. "Get on board."

The Knights of the Round Table boarded the ship, it's cargo shared between wax for candles and tied up crew members. Galahad was the first to notice the lack of a crew.

"Ezio," -_I love being called that._- "Where is your crew?" Galahad asked curiously.

"I traveled here from a land called Italy," Sonic began twisting a tale on his feet. "Venice, Italy. A city, built on water. A lagoon. I wanted to venture toward new places, but no one fancied leaving Venice. So I sailed off, alone, and a year ago, I landed here."

"Really?" Galahad asked, unconvinced.

"Yeah. Weather was perfect on the way here, it was almost unnatural. I wish to return there one day. Mostly for the carnivale, which the last day in the city has reminded me of." The masked knight went on, who began tugging at the chain for the anchor.

"What's been happening the last few days?" Galahad asked, before helping Sonic with the chain. Galehaut began to help, and in seconds the anchor was on board.

Sonic began to head for the sail mast. "Oh, why, the pretty lady over there found a bunch of civilians in the basement of the castle last night, overrun by those demons. She freed the citizens, and they have been celebrating since. Hell, they've even killed some in the streets, and hung some from home made gallows from the rooftops. These people party _hard_."

The knights of the round table turned to Percival with pleasantly surprised looks on their faces. Percival, not liking to be the center of attention suddenly, flicked her visor down to hide her blush, mumbling "God damn it" repeatedly. -_Giggling like a schoolgirl in my mind right now._-

"What's the problem, Percival? Nothing shameful in creating all of this." Bors assured. "That was after the fight with Sonic, yes?"

"Y-yes." Percival answered shyly, and slowly shook it off. Lamorak shut his visor too, so no one could see him silently laughing.

Galahad stepped back into the conversation. "That's enough of that."

"Yes, yes." Sonic said, as he pulled the sail down. The disguised hedgehog raced up to the wheel at a normal pace -_To avoid any suspicion of it being me coming from Gawain._-, and steered out of the port and into the bay. Sonic took a quick look at a small map he had, and began to readjust the direction to make sure he was heading to where he wanted to go.

In a few minutes, the port was out of sight, Sonic was happily humming the intro to "Mariner's Revenge" to himself, when Percival walked up to him.

"_Pretty lady_?" She said annoyed, still with the visor down. -_Okay, fuck, where is a god damn ninja._-

"What?" Sonic chuckled, back in his normal voice. "Stop complaining about it and deal with it, it's part of my alias."

"Alias?" Percival asked.

"You know. Ezio." Sonic began. "_Ezio Auditore da Firezne._ When I wear a disguise, I don't do everything I normally would. I have to act differently, give the disguise a personality. Roleplay, you could call it."

Percival's eyes trailed off elsewhere. "Oh..."

Sonic smiled. "So, like I said, deal with it."

And with that, Percival left. And a moment later, Gawain came along.

"Galahad wanted me to ask," Gawain said, taking a noticeable breath in. "_Pretty lady_?"

"_Whaaat_?" -_You've gotta be shitting me_. - Sonic replied, his voice changing back to the voice Gawain knew. "It's a problem if I joke around with her?"

"... Apparently." Gawain answered plainly, shrugging. He couldn't really speak for him.

"If this is going where I think it's going, tell him this;" Sonic said, rolling his eyes behind his tinted visor. "It'll float like a lead boat."

There was a crash coming from below the deck. -_A godsend._-

"...Speaking of floating boats..." Sonic looked around a moment. He hopped over the railing onto the deck, and opened the double-door doorway into the Captain's Quarters. There, he grabbed a chair, and dashed back up to the wheel, and propped the chair up against the wheel, so it wouldn't spin. After it was secured, Sonic hustled down the stairs and went down through the empty crew's quarters, and into the cargo room.

There, there was a sailor who had gotten out of his box, and was in the process of releasing another. -_I'VE HAD IT WITH THESE MOTHERFUCKIN' SNAKES ON THIS MOTHERFUCKIN' SHIP_-

Sonic picked up the empty four-by-four foot box and slammed it on the back of the sailor's head.

"Get back in the box!" Sonic ordered, placing the box down.

"Where are you taking us?" The free sailor demanded to know.

"Avalon! I told you that! Then you said 'no'! Look what you made me do!"

Sonic grabbed the sailor by the nose, tightly, and pulled the sailor over to him. Sonic then let go of his nose, grabbed both his ears, and swung him into the box head first. Sonic grabbed the top of the box.

"You'll get your ship back when we're done here. It shouldn't take long." Sonic assured as he began slamming his metal gauntlet on the box, hammering the nails back into the wood.

When Sonic was finished, he returned to the wheel.


	20. Fuck a Ninja

**CHAPTER 19: FUCK A NINJA**

In an hour or two, the knights had arrived at Avalon. The Knights of the Round Table had just got off the ship, and as soon as they did, the armadillo turned around.

"Thank you for the transportation here, Ezio." Bors thanked. -_Still like being called that._-

"AGREED, IT WAS VERY EFFICIENT." Galehaut added.

"You're welcome." Sonic replied. "Nothing really."

"Do you want to come with us to fight the King, Ezio?" Lamorak asked. "You know what they say, the more the merrier."

"No thanks, I'll be staying here." Sonic politely declined. He was going to fight, just not alongside the band of knights.

The hawk scoffed as he turned his back and began to walk away. "Fine, then. If that is what you wish, sir Ezio."

"Well, we'll be off, then." Percival said, waving goodbye.

"Good luck!" Sonic cheered in reply. As the knights of the round table began walking around the corner of a building, Sonic walked back into the captain's quarters, went around the large mahogany desk, and opened the widest drawer. Sonic pulled Caliburn from the drawer.

"How was that?" Sonic asked.

"Oh, horrible. It felt like a coffin!" Caliburn complained.

"Well, they're gone, let's go." Sonic said, leaving the captain's quarters, and leaving the ship.

He was looking for a way to the rooftops. Using his passage-way spotting eyes, he sees a way he can climb up right onto the rooftops; right up the front of a shop of some sort. It wasn't too specific. The wooden sign that dangled from a post suspended next to the doorway had faded writing on it. Judging by what Sonic was able to make legible, "The Chao..." it was probably a bar, or a pet store of some sort. -_Because every building in Britain can't be a home, castle or a bar._-

Sonic sprinted up to the side of the doorway, kicking off the windowsill to propel himself upward.

"WOAH! Did you see that?" Exclaimed a child from inside the building. -_Oh shit, was that just Charmy?_-

"WHAT IS IT, CALVIN?" Boomed a loud man, also from inside. -_If Vector is Hobbes I am going to cut round holes in my visor and place giant-ass home made googly eyes in their place, and take no notice to it at all._-

After deciding it wasn't a great idea to wait for them to come outside and look at him dangling from the wall, Sonic began to climb up the building. When he came up to the second story window, he saw a chameleon writing in a book at a desk, right up next to the window. -_FOUND MY NINJA._-

The chameleon looked at Sonic surprised, and wasted no time pushing his desk off to the side and pulling Sonic into the room by his collar.

Caught off-guard, Sonic was then thrown to a wall, and Sonic examined the chameleon more carefully. There was a couple changes from the Espio Sonic knew well. First off, he was wearing a yellow scarf. _-Might I say he looks rather da- HEY WAIT A SECOND, MY OUTFIT IS MISSING A YELLOW SCARF._- Second, he had taken a liking to more unique weaponry. Across the room were several weapons, including a Scottish claymore, an Arabic scimitar, and a Japanese katana.

Currently, the chameleon was holding what seemed to be a dagger with a ball connected to it via a chain from the hilt. The chain was very long, and he was twirling it around. -_I think I know this weapon, it's a... a... what's it called... YOU KNOW, I bet Tails would be able to name what that thing is, what with all of weeaboo NI-HON-EESE anime stuff he watches. But whatever. The thing in Espio's hands fuck up swords and people._-

The chameleon began to interrogate the intruder. "What are you doing climbing up the bui-"

With a sudden jolt, Sonic attempted to grab the chain. Getting denied, Sonic was slashed at with the dagger, but luckily, his armor made it glance off.

"You're pretty fast, but not fast enough." -_THAT'S IT THIS NINJA IS GETTING FUCKED._- "CALVIN, VICTOR, GET UP HERE!" -_No googly eyes. Aww. That would have been hilarious._-

Without any warning, Sonic grabbed the chair and threw it at the chameleon.

Downstairs, Calvin the Bee and Victor the Crocodile began rushing up the stairs. Victor busted the door open, he saw their friend being choked by his scarf by a knight wearing red and white armor, who apparently came in through the window.

"TENZIN!" Victor cried out, rushing toward them. -_Tenzin? … I'm okay with that. And also, thank god, Vector has a minorly changed name so I can wrap my head around it easily._-

Victor reared back his fist, and sent it flying toward Sonic. Sonic threw Tenzin in the way, but, intentionally, Victor's punch fell short. Sonic was waiting for the hit, while Tenzin lifted his feet up off the ground and kicked off of Victor's huge fist. The chameleon flipped over Sonic, now released from the choke Sonic had him in.

Sonic quickly wrapped the scarf around his neck and dashed over to the wall, pulling out his shield and turning around before he slammed into the wall. He saw Tenzin slashing at the space Sonic was with a kunai.

"Woah! He's _fast!_ Did you see that?" Calvin cried out.

"No, I didn't!" Victor shouted back. "Help us out here!"

Sonic had three enemies against him and he really did not want to waste time fighting these enemies, all now carrying weapons, all brought up.

"You know what." Sonic said plainly.

Sonic withdrew his sword, and pulled the shield in front of him. "Look, you may not have heard of me, but my name is Sonic. I came here along with the Knights of the Round Table after getting them to get everyone that left and go fight the king. Can you PLEASE let me go?"

"No." Tenzin doubted.

Sonic went on. "Don't believe me? I'll take off my helmet."

"I'm not sure on weather or not to believe you," Tenzin began, now swinging the ball. "But I just want my scarf back."

Sonic's arms slumped, and his jaw dropped.

"Really? Just the scarf?" Caliburn asked surprised.

Sonic put his shield on his back, and put Caliburn on the wall, and began freeing up his right hand.

"Yes, I realize now there's no point fighting over some guy running around on the rooftops, no matter the reason. My apolo–"

_PAK_

-_Nope._-

With a loud explosion coming from Sonic's vambrace, the ball of Tenzin's chain swung around in the opposite direction it was traveling and nailed him straight in the face.

-_Ninja status: fucked._-

Tenzin fell to the ground, knocked out, and using the element of surprise to his advantage, he ran toward the window, jumped on it, grabbed the decorative bricks surrounding the window and began to climb up before Victor could grasp what happened to his reptilian friend.

Long before Sonic was off of their roof, Calvin broke the silence, lowering his weapons in confusion and disappointment.

"What the HECK just happened?"

…

The Knights of the Round Table were traveling along the boardwalk of Avalon. The sun was setting, and Galehaut had spotted Arthur on the other side of the bay.

"TARGET SPOTTED." Galehaut announced in a moderate volume voice, compared to his normally booming tone. "HE HASN'T SEEN US. STAY OUT OF SIGHT."

"Just before we get to the straightaway toward him, I will lower myself down to the beach." Percival began to plan. "I'll run past him, find myself a way up when I'm in head of him, making him flee from me, into your welcoming arms."

"I'll come with you!" Galahad jumped to the opportunity.

Percival rolled her eyes. "Alright," she said under a groan. "Just, be quiet and follow my orders."

Staying behind crates and other parked ships, the knights began to make their way to the Black Knight as quickly as they could.

"So, this Ezio guy," Lamorak began. "You know him well?"

"Yes," Percival lied. She created a short story in her head. "I met him when..."

_KAAaoowwww..._

"Sweet bloody Jesus what the hell was that?" Lamorak jumped. "Gawain, normally when things are happening, you're as red as a beat, but now your as a girl at a ball. What's your problem?"

"That sound..." Gawain managed to make out with his mouth. He shook his head, and glared at Percival. "I THOUGHT YOU SAID HE WAS DEAD!"

"I never said I killed Sonic. It was a fist fight, by the way..." Percival reminded.

"Why didn't you just stab him? Did he challenge you? What were the terms? _I hope you know I have every right to know about the guy that almost killed me_."

"Look, he had to have gotten that weapon from somewhere else." Percival argued. "I don't think he designed it, but the person who did is probably making more."

"Oh GREAT!" Gawain threw his arms up in frustration. "Watch your heads everyone, even if the helmet stops it, you'll be hanging for your life by the skin of your teeth."

"Stops what?" Bors asked, sort of unmoved by Gawain's doomsaying.

"A little metal ball that gets wherever the person shooting it at you wants it to go instantly." Gawain said, pointing toward his visor, which had a noticeable hole in the top.

"Unless you're thickheaded." Lamorak chuckled.

"Hey Percival, can you cook him rare?"

"Oh ha ha, very funny."

"SILENCE AND PROCEED WITH THE MISSION YOU FOOLS."

Speechless, the knights turned their heads and stared at Galehaut as if he grew two more heads.

"... MY APLOGIES."

…

Sonic dashed across the rooftops, really enjoying the views. -_Man, sunset rooftop running is sweet. I wish I brought a camera..._- Sonic saw the King, across the bay. -_Do you think anyone would notice a camera beard?_-

"What the hell was that for back there?" Caliburn raved, letting his noble nature leave himself for a moment to chastise Sonic. "He just wanted his scarf back!"

"Well _I_ wanted it," Sonic began. "If someone saves the world, do you think he should get things as a reward for his effort and victory? Shouldn't he eat free if he saved the life of the vendor?"

"Yes, but so far, you haven't saved any lives here yet."

Sonic's eyebrows flattened, annoyed. "I'm getting there yeesh."

"There's no point arguing with you, is there?" Caliburn complained.

"Nope." Sonic replied immediately.

Sonic came to a building on the edge of the city, a boardwalk that curved alongside a bay. Looking down, he could see his knights make their way to him. Glad to see that everything is just as planned, Sonic began rushing toward the king from the rooftops, alongside the unknowing knights.


	21. Screaming for Vengeance

**CHAPTER 20: SCREAMING FOR VENGEANCE**

-_IF FIGHTING IS SURE TO RESULT IN VICTORY, THAN YOU MUST FIGHT!_-

The Knights of the Round Table had reached the lowest point in the bay on the boardwalk, and Percival was getting ready to jump onto the beach, along with Galahad. Sonic was watching from the rooftops, unnoticed.

"So, what is your plan?" Caliburn asked.

"I'm sure six knights can take down the king, but I won't let them kill him. I'll watch, and then when the time comes, I'll steal the kill." Sonic explained.

Caliburn was disappointed in Sonic. "Oh that's nice of you, to steal the fame and glory from those who earned it."

"Hey, if I wasn't here, Merlina would be dead on a gravel road somewhere while Percival, Gawain, and Lancelot are just watching Arthur wreck shit."

"You are really full of yourself, aren't you?"

"Yup."

"Blast it, Sonic." Caliburn groaned.

Sonic watched his knights on the boardwalk silently as Percival looked back at the Knights, and began going over the plan again.

"Alright, Sir Bors, Galehaut, Lamorak and Gawain, you will confront him normally, while me and Galahad flank around him from the beach, find a way up, and cut him off if he tries to run. Any questions?"

"No, I think we are ready." Bors assured. He began to walk toward their enemy, withdrawing his sword, and gesturing his group to follow.

As the knights began to follow Bors, Percival hopped down to the beach, and with Galahad right behind her. They began to run along the beach, while Bors' group walked down the boardwalk, swords withdrawn, casually.

Back on the rooftops, Sonic began to sneak across the hard orange tiles that covered the roofs of the city, making his way toward the Black Knight.

-_Now, what snappy one-liner should I say as I remove my helmet before I get into the fight? A line from "With Me"? Nah, I'm not the villain. "I have come here to kick ass, and chew bubblegum"... Maybe... Something to do with Megaman? I am wearing a Protoman outfit after all, scarf, helmet, and shield... wait oh my god YES._-

* * *

"The sea looks nice, doesn't it Percival?" Galahad asked in a low tone, either because he was out of breath or he was nervous.

"I guess." Percival replied as she dashed on, not even turning her head to look.

Galahad slumped over while running. "You're taking this too seriously. Now don't get me wrong, this is serious, but still."

"Look Galahad, it's partly my fault why Lancelot is dead." Percival spat back. "I didn't stand when I should had."

"Well, neither did I, but you're not slashing at me." Galahad argued back.

"Yes, it's your fault too. Start taking this more seriously." Percival said. "I don't know what's with you. Always looking on the bright side, always expecting things to work out our way, when it never does."

"Well, it's not like it will be the death of me."

"It probably will!"

"Tell me how, then."

"I followed your advice. I tried to expect the best, when I knew everything was falling apart, and look how I ended up! A slave! Or an '_indentured servant_', as Sonic calls it."

"...I'm sorry."

"Instead of writing me a three page long apology letter- like the _last time_ something similar happened, fix the God forsaken problem. That's what I want, okay? Now, silence, and be useful."

"Alright."

"And learn from your mistakes."

"Yes ma'am."

* * *

"They're probably making out right now." Lamorak joked.

Bors pinched his eyebrows together. "You _would_ say that."

"What? It's kinda obvious that the kid has the hots for her." Lamorak said.

"Not that, it's just that you would _say_ that." Bors answered.

Gawain intervened. "You are infamous for saying the wrong things at the wrong times, and they're usually baseless assumptions. For example, how when we first met Percival, you told her to _'get back in the kitchen_.'"

The hawk chuckled. "Heh, yeah, must have been frustrated or drunk... I still have scratch marks."

"HUSH, IMMATURE PIGEON." Galehaut silently ordered. They were within earshot of the Black Knight now, and Arthur's attention was taken away from harassing citizens to the knights.

"Hello, Gawain, what is it you are with these traitors for?"

"Arthur, it is with my pleasure to tell you that the man who killed Lancelot has been defeated."

The large horseman spoke loudly and proudly. "Good news, but what is with these-"

"But before he lost, he told the victor, Percival, that if someone is going to fight you, they'll fight alone, because none of us were ready to fight you. None of us were willing. None of us were prepared..."

"Are you implying what I think you are..?"

"Yes." Gawain answered, with all the knights getting into battle positions.

"A shame you make this decision at this time." Arthur's voice drooped."Lamorak, Galehaut, I'll give you two the pleasure of knowing that you were great soldiers."

As Arthur finished, he rose his sword, which was glowing with dark energy. He slashed the air, and dozens of large underworld beings fell from the tear in reality to intercept the knights.

"SEND YOUR ARMIES, COWARD, _WE'LL CUT THEM TO PIECES!_"

* * *

Sonic had broken into someone's house, and they didn't seem to mind. -_They don't give a fuck about home intruders, or giant horsemen right outside their front door. Extra hardcore family lives in this house, folks._- Sonic was watching the events unfold from a closed window on the third floor.

"Oh my god holy shit YES this is awesome." Sonic whispered excitedly to Caliburn, his leg bouncing up and down as he leaned on the windowsill.

"Yes, and you could be in that!"

Sonic's mind began to trail off. "Hmmm... Nah." -_~... I'M QUICKMAN, DRESSED IN RED. I'VE GOT A YELLOW BOOMERANG ATTACHED TO MY HEAD...~_-

* * *

Percival finished climbing up the metal beams of the boardwalk, and hopped on, closely followed by Galahad.

"From what I've seen recently, Arthur has been using cowards' tactics, like running away and sending minion after minion to fight." Percival explained.

"So we stop him from running?" Galahad guessed.

"Indeed. Grab that rope there."

* * *

In moments, all of the underworld monsters were sent back to where they came from, and Lamorak was already gloating.

"Is _that_ the _best you've got?_ Ha! We could have killed you all along!" Lamorak snidely joked. Gawain was being proven right by the moment that Lamorak is known for having a foul mouth.

"Don't underestimate him, Lamorak..." Bors said in an unsettling tone.

"Fine, I won't say he sucks." Lamorak rolled his eyes, turning his attention to Arthur, and began jogging toward him, pounding his chest with one hand. "BRING IT, MOTHERFUCKER!"

The giant horse kicked its front legs into the air, neighing as the Black Knight rose his massive sword, as prepared to fight as Lamorak was...

And then turned around and began galloping off in the other direction.

Lamorak was caught off guard by this, and stumbled into a run. "HEY! GET BACK HERE YOU PUSSY!"

The knights began chasing down the large horseman, Lamorak's mouth running as fast as he did, spewing any and every insult he could think of out of his mouth toward the fleeing King.

* * *

"Dammit." Sonic cursed. "Forgot that guy runs."

"Yes, kings naturally resort to other ways to deal with problems than fighting. Decent ones, at least." Caliburn noted.

"We haven't gone this far to kill a decent king, right?"

"True, true."

Sonic ran over to a balcony, and got on the ledge. He climbed onto the roof and began following the knights again.

* * *

Lamorak had finally gotten close to the horse, after maneuvering around death rays and fire balls, followed by Gawain, Bors, and finally Galehaut. The Black Knight was not used to handling multiple enemies at once, and was doing a poor job fighting.

"SLOW DOWN SO I CAN HIT YOU WITH MY SWORD, YOU HORSE-DICK RIDING CUNT!" Lamorak shouted.

"You do not need to be screaming every curse word you know, Lamorak!" Bors said.

"I DON'T GIVE A FUCK!" The bird wailed back.

Lamorak took out his fan. He jumped, swishing his fan downward to get some extra height. The hawk then swished his fan backward, sending him forward, jumping onto King Arthur's head. He began to slash at his helmet, but Arthur smashed him off with his fist off after a couple slashes.

Lamorak fell to the ground on his back, quickly trying to get back up, as everyone else kept running.

Bors was next to fight the knight. He blasted past the horse, rolled up, and jumped right under the jaw of the giant horse. This made the horse slow down a bit, as Bors rolled off to the side and with drew his sword, and jumped onto the head of the horse.

Arthur began slashing at the armadillo, each attack either dodged or deflected. After five attacks, Bors began to stab the king rapidly, but soon after six hits, Arthur swiped his huge hand at Bors, and knocked him off his horse.

Gawain jumped on the back of the horse, and began to swing at the Black Knight from behind. Arthur grunted in pain, and turned around to fight him. They clashed swords for a moment, and Arthur used his size to push Gawain off. Unlike the other knights, Gawain rolled when he hit the ground, keeping some of his speed, and he ran on alongside Galehaut.

"You are all still fine knights, but you are no match for-"

The horse's two front feet gave way and the giant horseman went flying to the ground.

"Gah!" Arthur grumbled. His horse teleported back onto its feet, and Arthur, not bothering to think about why it tripped, was getting on it again when two more knights ran in front of him. These were Percival and Galahad.

"Nice work, Galahad." Percival complimented.

"Nice plan, Percival!" Galahad replied cheerfully.

"Two _more_ of my former knights? Pity. Have at you!"

Percival began moving her hands around. Very subtly, a small ring of fire came out of the ground, surrounding the horse. The Black Knight noticed this, and let out a gasp of fear. He dashed out of the ring of fire, and a moment after he did, a pillar of fire erupted from where he once was, -_Fuck I hated that move. ~'I fell in-to a burnin' ring of fire...'~_- completely missing the target. Percival muttered a curse under her breath.

As the pillar of fire faded, Galahad turned toward the fleeing king, and also began moving his hands. "Let me help."

Arthur's horse was stopped suddenly. In a moment, the horse shoes began grinding into the boardwalk as Galahad was using his mind to drag him back.

Percival thanked Galahad quickly. She jumped to Arthur, who tried to slash at her while she was jumping. She dodged the slash, and landed on his shoulder. She began slashing at his head. When the hand came to knock her off, she swung around the large helmet and slashed it one more time from the other side. The black knight's arm came around and picked up the fiery cat by the head, and tossed her at a wall.

"I'm proud I trained such swordsmen, but I'll have you know it does not bother me to kill _scumbag traitors_ such as yoursel-"

Gawain interrupted him, sounding like he was throwing something large. "_YEAAAAAGH!_"

Arthur turned around to see what was going on, and there in the air flew Galehaut, longsword poised to stab and spinning rapidly. -_FUCK YEAR!_-

The Black Knight gasped. "MOTHER OF-"

"WORTHLESS SELFISH RULER." Galehaut said as he drove the heavy sword straight into Arthur's chest, the sword twisting his insides.

The Black Knight dropped his sword, and focused both his hands onto pushing Galehaut away. It took a couple seconds, but the King managed to pry the largest rebel off him and threw him to the ground.

The massive horseman began to taunt. "I have to hand it to you all, valiant effort. But, as long as I have the Scabbard, you cannot win!"

-_Thanks for the que, Arthur. ~DOCTOR LIGHT NEEDS OUR HELP AND THE WORLD NEEDS HIS GENIUS...~_-

The Black Knight rested his hand upon the Scabbard, and began to withdraw its power.

"NOPE!"

Arthur turned to look for who made that sound, and in the air flew a knight wearing red and white armor, and a shield, who instantly grabbed the Scabbard at King Arthur's side. Surprised, Arthur tried to snatch it, but the knight was so fast that he had kicked off with the Scabbard by the time his hand got there.

-_~... WILY CAN SUCK A PENIS...~_-

The helmeted knight landed and rolled in front of all of the Knights of the Round Table. Before one of them could begin to say "Ezio", he tossed the Scabbard to Percival, and removed his helmet, slamming it onto the ground. Gawain was first to say anything.

"WHAT THE HELL-"

Sonic withdrew Caliburn, and pointed at King Arthur. "Come and face me like a man, you old coot! I'm tired of fightin' demons and cleaning up your messes! I'm takin' out the trash, it's time to learn a lesson! SO COME DOWN, TO THE GROUND, OFF OF YOUR HORSESHIT! YOU AIN'T GOT THE _BALLS_ TO BE FUCKIN' WITH THIS SHIT! After I take you, I'll rip outcha brain, you won't _even_ re_member_ your name!" -_C'MAWN_- "YA FUCKIN' MEANIE, YA TEN POUND WEENIE. To get the WORLD, you're gonna have to go THROUGH ME! I'm the knight of the wind, but you can call me 'Rock', 'cause I'll be rocking your SHIT up and down the block!"

Everyone remained silent, completely confused at how Sonic even thought of doing that. -_Duane and Brando kicks ass, fuck you._-

After a very long, drawn out awkward pause, Arthur spoke up.

"You want me off my horse?"

"Yeah."

As King Arthur got off his high horse, he and his sword began to shrink.

"Oh, no!" The Black Knight cried as he was becoming smaller than his horse. He had stopped shrinking when he became slightly larger than Sonic's size. He grumbled in frustration to drown out the laughter of a certain green bird that was getting on his nerves lately. -_Huh. The Scabbard's power has the power to make you giant? Well, explains how he wasn't called out for being unnatural before I came along._-

"No matter!" Arthur scoffed. "I will still stand victorious, no matter the size!"

Without talking back, Sonic began to walk up to the now equally sized knight, tossing aside Caliburn in cockiness. Arthur swung his heavy sword overhand at the enlarged hedgehog. Sonic ran up and caught it quickly, before it gained power, with both his gauntlet-clad hands, moving his head out of the way so it didn't cut his head open. Sonic kicked Arthur in the gut, and pulled his sword away. Sonic did not even bother switching to the blade. He quickly rose the hilt to Arthur's' face and pushed it forward, slamming him through the hole of his helmet.

"Bonk." Sonic joked as he retracted the sword away from his enemy. Sonic tossed the sword up and grabbed the handle of the blade. Sonic began slashing at his stunned and unarmed enemy relentlessly.

"Dude are you even trying?" _SCHING._ "Drink it up, pal. THAT'S HOW FAILURE TASTES." _CHLANG._ "HOW THE HELL DID YOU EVER BECOME A KING?" _CHING WACHING CHING._

Sonic tossed aside his enemy's sword when Arthur was on his knees cradling his wounds. He began pulled out a tiny sack, filled with black powder, and poured its contents into a hole on the vambrace. He then loaded a ball into the hole.

Sonic began to taunt, his voice's power raised. "No, seriously, how the hell did you take over this place? Who was the wimp in control before?"

Sonic began to work with his vambrace's parts, readying it.

"Because, man, I could take you down with my fists if I tried hard enough. Face it, dude..."

Sonic pointed it at the helpless foe.

"I OWNED YOU, YOU FAT BALD BASTARD!"

KAAAOOOOOOWWWWwwwwooooo...

Before Sonic could even look at the victim, he retracted his hand in pain. -_DAGGIT, too much DAKKA._- He was not wounded, from what he could feel, and began to swing his arm around in an attempt to pacify the pain. Sonic looked at Arthur.

Arthur's armor pieces had began flying around, as if no one was in the armor to stop them from flailing around. Purple and black smoke floated in the space Arthur was. -_So that shot was so powerful, he died like a normal underworld monster? Cool._- He began walking over to the helmet, which, as with the rest of the armor, was filling with dark, underworldly smoke, laughing loudly for his allies to hear, and began to speak to the warrior-less helmet.

"Hahaha," Sonic laughed. "Oh, they're gon_ta have_ to glue _you_ back together. _IN HELL_!"

"Okay okay okay, let me get things sorted out." Gawain stammered. "Sonic was alive, in fighting condition, _and_ he was Ezio this whole time?"

Percival sighed. "Yes."

"So you didn't win?"

With another sigh, Percival began answering in a more annoyed tone. "No, I did not win. And it was his plan to burn down your house, too."

"You lied to me. If you told me he switched sides, I would have helped... If I could punch him hard enough..."

"He never switched sides. Besides, I'd rather not have you beating up allies."

Sonic walked over to the group of knights. "Nice job, all of you. You all helped defeat him and save this world. Percival, Galahad, nice thinking with the rope. Gawain, Galehaut, I have to say I was impressed with that idea to get around Galehaut's lack of mobility. Bors, your dodging skills were stellar, and Lamorak, I have never heard that many insults come out of someone's mouth while they were fighting expertly."

"Oh how _flattering_." Lamorak thanked with a ludicrous amount of sarcasm. -_I like this new not-giving-a-fuck Jet._-

"SATISFIED TO BE OF ASSISTANCE." Galehaut replied.

"So you're Sonic?" Bors asked. "You did a pretty incredible job yourself."

"_Especially_ when you tossed me aside like food scraps." Caliburn sarcastically added, hopping over.

"If that wasn't proof that I'm good, then there are no skilled knights in this world." Sonic retorted.

Lamorak stood up for Sonic. "Yes, humiliating kills are the best kills, and defeating an enemy with their own weapon has _got_ to be humiliating. Especially since you grabbed the blade and smacked him with the hilt."

"You see? This guy has the right mindset." Sonic explained.

Sonic walked over to Percival, who had picked up his helmet, and collected it and the Scabbard from her. He put the helmet under his shoulder, and put the Scabbard behind his shield. Sonic began to walk back down the boardwalk, with the knights following him, their backs to the sunset.

Sonic began to walk backwards to face the knights. "Welp, I think we're done here." Sonic said, in an 'I'm finally finished' tone.

Bors began to stretch his arms. "Yes, Sir Sonic. I think we are. What do we do, now?"

Sonic smiled, turned around to face them and began walking backwards. "We just slayed a king. We will be returning to the city, which was celebrating for the past day over the freeing of hundreds from said king's grasp, with news that we killed the king. What do you think will happen?"


	22. Party Hard

**CHAPTER 21: PARTY HARD**

-_You know, my dad told me, when I was a kid..._-

Sonic sat back against the wall of a building, with a smile on his face, barely containing his laughter.

-_"If you ever get into a party that's serving beer..."_-

Sonic's gaze was focused on the large, ten foot tall barrels of beer that were being rolled from the castle by dozens of cheerful men. These were the largest barrels he'd seen since he went to Apotos. They had no supervisors, no one to tell everyone what they couldn't do. For now, the everyone in the city was truly free.

-_"Sit back, relax... and enjoy abusing as many drunk people you want to your heart's content."_-

Sonic let out silent chuckles as he watched dozens of people, including most of the knights, begin to fill large glasses with beer.

-_I wonder if he met my mom that way... An experiment for another day._-

"Not drinkin' anything?" Bors said as he walked up to Sonic.

Sonic politely declined. "Nah, I'd rather not end up piss drunk." -_By the way, if you're wondering why no one is giving a rat's ass about teens drinking beer, is because lifespans were much shorter back in ye olde time. Tails could live up to eighty, or ninety, while the Blacksmith, Smithy, Leon, whatever you call him would live up to forty or fifty if he was lucky._-

"Meh, suit yourself." Bors shrugged.

"Guys," Sonic said aloud for all the knights to hear. "Follow me. Let's go to Smithy's place."

"Yes, it has enough places to sleep." Percival noted.

The armadillo slapped a hand on the beer bottle. "Alright, let's go there, then."

As Sonic and his fellow knights moved through the crowded streets of the city, fights were breaking out. Because they was no sort of law established, let alone people to enforce these laws, there were many attempted house robberies, murders, and other such crimes, but the mobs of civilians seemed to handle it well.

"This place is perfect," Lamorak said cheerfully, though not completely drunk yet. "It's like I'm in Valhalla! Meat, beer, and fights all around you..."

"You could be in the thick of that shit, man." Sonic jokingly provoked.

Lamorak's eyes shot toward Sonic. "You're right!"

Lamorak turned around, ready to slaughter people abusing the celebrations to commit crimes, but before he went charging off into the crowd fists raised, Sonic withdrew Lamorak's sword from his side and quickly put it behind his back. Lamorak had not noticed, and kept running.

"Um..." Sonic dazed off, acquiring the stares of his comrades. "I didn't mean to do that. Oh whatever, let's just get going, quick."

Traveling at a more hurried and faster pace than before, Sonic and the knights minus one curse word spouting bird had finally reached the Blacksmith's home.

"Well, here we are. Home of all of my armor and weapons besides this yakking sword, Smithy's place." Sonic announced.

"I have feelings, too..." Caliburn pointed out.

"PERHAPS A TAD TINY?" Galehaut noticed.

"Yeh," Bors replied in a tired tone. "Where'll we put our stuff?"

Sonic opened the door downstairs. "There's a bunch of cots, just put your battle gear in there and we'll find something to do. I don't know what you guys do when you party, so maybe you can bring me around?"

"I guess, I dunno." Galahad stepped in the conversation as the knights were walking downstairs. "Not sure what you like to do."

Sonic followed them, undoing his vambrace. "Hell, I'll do the most interesting thing I find."

In a minute or two, the group had removed themselves of armor and weapons, and proceeded to leave the building and into the streets. Large crowds have gathered in front of bands of musicians to dance, and many were rowdy. -_There was a mosh pit in one of them. That's right! Even in medieval times, drunk men partied hard, and their traditions passed down many generations, all the way to modern times._-

"God, the people are getting crazy." Sonic pointed out.

"Wonder what's pissin' 'em off." Gawain wondered aloud.

To Sonic, it was a confusing party. It didn't look like there was much to do, and yet people were out in the streets, having a great time. -_I can understand this working in houses and stuff, but this is through the whole city._-

Sonic stopped walking. "Okay, okay. What is there to do? Maybe I'm not seeing much over these people's heads, or is there not much to see?"

Galahad shrugged. "There's stuff to see, alright. Probably not tall enough, though, heh..."

"Are you calling me short?" Sonic asked. "Coming from the guy with the giant white marijuana leaf on his head."

"It's not MY fault it's like that..." Galahad retorted.

Sonic scoffed. "Oh, then enlighten me."

"It grew like that..."

"Uh huh."

Bors stuck his head in the conversation.

"Was mother a giant plant?" -_PFFFT HAHAHA, I am SO using that next time I see Silver!_-

Gawain, Sonic, and Percival began to laugh at that, while Galahad took made an irritated face. In a few moments though, he began chuckling along with the rest of the group.

"I WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND THIS SITUATION." Galehaut spoke loudly in a seemingly sad tone.

"Maybe you don't want to." Gawain lazily replied. -_...wha...?_-

"I DO WANT TO." Galehaut announced.

"Whatever..."

"Hey, let's go onto the castle walls." Bors suggested.

"I'm okay with that. Away from this brawling crowd..." Sonic said, rushing away from the drunken mob that covered the streets.

As they walked to the battlements, Sonic took another look of admiration of the city. The citizens were dancing in the streets as musicians played tunes with their hats on the ground, collecting pays of those enjoying their pieces. The waterfalls that the city had an absurd amount of glistened brightly as people lit many torches all across the city, and the bright moon helped a great deal to light up the night. When the knights got to the castle walls, Sonic stared back into the city in awe. -_It'd look even better if they did that lamp thing they did in that movie Tangled. Also, please tell me I am not the only one that thought of "Ninety Nine Red Balloons" at that part._-

"I STORED DRINKS FOR US." Galehaut said, taking out several bottles.

Sonic turned around, mouth agape. "Like you guys need more alcohol."

-_You know, so I don't mess up my experiment, I need to find a way to be an ass in this situation. It's a given I'm going to try to abuse drunk merchants, and I don't want to start a huge brawl within this group. I don't want to mess up this city more than it already is, so what is there to-oh god, that forest... OH GOD, THAT FOREST!_-

"Actually, you know what? Give me one of them." Sonic said as he snatched a bottle. "Anyone got a spare napkin or something?"

Galahad took out one of his, and handed it to him. Sonic pulled the cork out, and stuffed the napkin in the bottle halfway. He tilted the top toward Percival.

"Light it, please." Sonic ordered.

Without a second thought, Percival set the tip of the handkerchief afire, and began to watch what Sonic was going to do.

Sonic turned to the forest, and began whirling his arms around like a cartoon baseball pitcher. With his incredible gift of speed, Sonic threw the Molotov cocktail at the forest. The bottle soared past the rolling hills, until it could not be seen. -_Think of it as Team Rocket blasting off again._-

"Now what was that for?" Bors asked.

Sonic crossed his arms. "I'm bored."

"Think we'll come across that bottle later?" Galahad asked. None of the knights, except for Sonic, knew alcohol burns. -_Just as planned. Now, when I see that fire when I get up tomorrow mornin', I'm gonna shout something, but I don't know what. Probably yet another music reference. ~"THROUGH THE FIRE AND THE FLAMES WE CARRY ON."~ That song is better slowed down a little bit._-

"NOT LIKELY." Galehaut answered.

And so the knights sat there, on the battlements of the grand celebrating city, talking.

"Beautiful night out, isn't it?" Percival said, staring at the moon.

"Yes, it is..." Galahad replied.

"Sure is." Sonic said. A moment later, -_after realizing how uncanny and absurd the moon's size is, of course. I mean, it looked like how it would from a cheap over-dramatic romance movie. I should know, I've been involved in several incidents where the moon gets bits blown off it. How the hell does the government fix it anyway? Fucking magnets._- he opened his mouth again. "Have any of you ever thought about if the moon crashed into us, or we crashed into the moon? Things do fall." -_Please tell me I didn't jinx it._-

"Hmm..." Percival shrugged, and then sighed, her slight smile not fading. "If it is, then it's falling awfully slow. Been up there my whole life, and all the hundreds of years before."

"CORRECT." Galehaut added.

Sonic stretched. "Well, I'm almost spent, anyone else?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty done for the night." Bors yawned.

"Eh, I can keep goin'..." Galahad groaned.

The knights had exited the battlements, and went back into the streets. There was a noticeable amount of people laying around, conscious or otherwise. A couple of them were laying in a puddle of their own vomit, unconscious. -_I ain't cleanin' that._-

As they walked through the crowded and crazy streets, Sonic saw a blacksmith's parlor. Hoping to get his armor repaired, Sonic told them to go ahead, however Percival and Galahad stayed behind.

Sonic had began removing bits of his armor, and put the pieces on the counter top. The shop owner picked them up and took it to the back, where he would fill the gashes in the platemetal with new metal.

Bored, Sonic looked around him. To his left, he saw Galahad talking to Percival, who had her eyes fixed on Sonic. To his right, he saw a familiar bat face inches away from his. -_WHA- oh dag nabbit..._-

"Hello there, hero." She said in a flirty voice. Her face was a tad flushed. "-_Rouge. Well, time for practice on when this actually does happen in real life._- "Name's Mary Rand. Call me Mary."

"Uh, hi." Sonic stammered, moving his face away from hers. He was thinking about what witty comment he could make to her possible responses. "Heard of me, I take it?"

"Heard of you? It's why were celebratin', darlin'. Aren't cha tired from all that fightin' you did?" Mary asked. -_...Is she really a..._-

"Yeah, a bit." Sonic answered, raising an eyebrow.

Mary drooped her eyelids, and let out a devious, yet gentle smile. "Anything I can do about it?" -_Yep. She is. Bitches and whores. Reject with extreme prejudice._-

"Woah woah woah," Sonic shook his head. "I see where this is going. No. Why? From the looks of you, you're like a fire. Once you get into a forest, you go wild."

The bat's face went red with rage. "Oh, for a _hero_ you don't seem too POLITE!"

"Well I'm sorry I don't give a shit. Which brings me to _EXHIBIT B_: Youact like you're the answer to a young man's prayer. No wonder so many men aren't praying these days."

"You sure know how to treat a lady!"

"You are not a lady, you are a WHORE!"

People began to notice the verbal fight, and began to chant. Percival was walking up, ready to intervene.

"Fucking typical!" She screamed, hate filling her eyes as she slowly reached to her back. Her voice lowered to a disappointed tone. "Hm... No one loves me..."

She pulled out a fan with razors on the ends of it. -_SON OF A BITCH!_-

"And _neither do I_. Makes perfect sense, so I never ask w-"

"Oi! Mary!"

Mary turned to the voice, and was pulled by her arm and tossed to a wall by the person who called for her, with their arms up against the wall under hers.

It was Lamorak. Whose armor was half covered by vomit, dried blood, among other things. -... _The heck has he been doing this whole time?_-

"Whatcha doin'?" Lamorak asked, as cocky as ever.

"Look, I'm in the middle of something right now, can-"

"Look, he does whatever the fuck he wants, and if he doesn't want to do _you_, whatever..."

Sonic stared at the two, jaw dropped slightly. He could not believe his luck.

"Them crooked vultures, eh?" He heard a jolly voice from behind the counter. -_God damn it, I'm the one that's supposed to be spouting references. It's enough SHE started it._-

Sonic turned to the shop owner, who was putting the now sturdier-looking, repainted armor on the counter. He also gave him a sack. "The bird? He's hawk."

The salesman laughed as he put the armor in a sack. "Literally or metaphorically?"

Sonic laughed with him, and tossed a small bag of rings over into his hands, as he began filling the sack with the armor.

"Oh, and you didn't seem too nice to the girl." The blacksmith went on.

Sonic quickly thought back to the Giant Book of Insults that he read before entering this book. -_Yes there is a book called that._- "Oh, if I said anything to _insult_ her, believe me I tried my best."

Sonic turned to leave Lamorak and Mary there, to see Percival there a meter or two away, chuckling with her mouth agape.

"Let's go" Sonic ordered, beginning to walk away.

"I hope you don't mind, but I want to stay for a little bit." Galahad said with his arms crossed.

"Not coming back?"

"I'm gonna listen to music, for a little bit, before coming back. Percival, you comin'?"

"All the other knights are there, so..." Percival dragged on, and eventually turned her back and began to stumble off. "Have fun, I guess."

* * *

Sonic opened the door to the workshop. Bors turned to them, with Riley sitting on his head, and Galehaut was already asleep, standing upright in a corner.

"Hey." Bors said, Riley smiling happily at Sonic. -_D'awww._-

"You know you have Riley on your head, right?" Sonic pointed out.

"Yeah, he climbed up there." Bors smiled.

"Gawain is... where?" Percival asked.

Bors hiccuped. "Asleep, like a hibernating rock."

Sonic laughed as he sat down on the rocking chair. A moment passed Bors started to ask questions.

"So, yer the guy that I've been hearin' about?" Bors said in a drunken stupor.

"Yeah, me. Sonic the Hedgehog!" Sonic replied enthusastically. He was getting tired, so it was hard to pull off.

"The guy that kicked the Knights of the Round Table in the can?"

"Uhuh."

"The guy that killed Lamorak."

"... Yes." Sonic looked down, feeling some remorse.

Bors flicked his hand in a lazy fashion, gesturing him to pipe down. "He was a great knight, but to be honest about the guy he could be a real ass sometimes..."

He began to chuckle and think. "Huh, like that one time, where..." He hiccuped. "Where Guinevere and a couple other of our guys were stuck inna tower, he climbed up the side of the tower, getting scraped in da proceess, grabbed the girl and ran. When the kidnappah," Bors paused, letting out a long 'uuuh' while he tried to remember. "Whatevah his name wuz, found blood on the sheets, he was complainin' that he didn't do what he wanted with her, if ya know what I mean..." He raised and lowered his eyebrows. -_Yes I know the story, now PLEASE STOP MENTIONING NAMES AND ASSIGNING CHARACTERS WITH PEOPLE I KNOW. I'd rather not imagine the stuff they do in the Arthurian Tales._- "The ress got out, evenshually, but no help cuzza _him_."

"Don't talk about that behind his back." Percival chastised his friend.

Bors switched his lazy gaze to the girl who spoke to him. Riley let out a confused 'ooo'. "Weren't you onna da people stuck in the towah?"

"No, that was Galahad."

"Oh!" Bors boomed, looking back at Sonic. "See, the guy didn't even save his son."

-_Which reminds me of something that has been bugging me._- "How old was the guy?" Sonic asked.

Bors raised an eyebrow. "Eh?"

"How old was Lancelot? He and Galahad looked the same age."

"Hell, why does it matter now?" Bors replied, avoiding the question. "You killed the man, AND Arthur. Sure, Guinnie's gonna be mad at you double time, but you're justified to me."

"Still, I'd like to know." Sonic pressed on. "It looks way too young to be legit."

"Look, he's old, alright?" Bors boomed. "You couldn't tell from the voice?"

-_Okay, I guess they won't talk about things that challenge the character's backstory._- "You know what, forget it, I'm hitting the hay." Sonic announced, getting up.

Caliburn became noticed. "Well, you sure seemed to think of Lancelot proudly."

"That was so sarcastic, I felt it elbow my ribs." Bors mumbled as he slowly slid down into the comfy custom made arm chair. "Not to say that he wasn't a friend, though. You can have pretty rude and stupid friends."

"I was just trying to get a joke off." Caliburn noted.

Sonic headed off downstairs, and went to sleep.


	23. In Your Dreams

**CHAPTER 22: IN YOUR DREAMS**

Sonic stood on the forward bow of the Ocean Tornado, smiling like a pirate with his foot on the bowsprit. He had gotten into the pirate look, with a bandanna and ponytail. -_Looks good, actually._- After the fairly recent discovery of a third dimension, Sonic organized a pioneering party to explore this new world. They weren't the first civilized beings in the world; there were many people, although they were spread apart vast and far, and built everything they had from scratch. They manage to fair against the monsters that come from nowhere at night.

It was sunset when they saw a huge tower made of stone in the distance. Interested, he brought it to Tails' attention. Tails was wearing goggles, and shared the same attire as his Arthurian Tale counterpart.

"Tails, please tell me you see the tower." Sonic ordered.

"Who couldn't?" Tails replied.

"Do you think it's set up by water?"

"Most of the people that live here do, if they are not living on a castle on the side of an overhanging cliff."

"Alrighty then, set sail for there."

Tails turned away from Sonic, and began to shout orders. "ALRIGHT EVERYBODY, WE'RE GOING TO THAT TOWER OVER THERE, Marine, turn the ship left..."

In a minute or two, as the large battleship began to turn into the bay the tower was located by, the ships horn blew, attracting the attention of any settler there.

There seemed to be, not a hut, or just the tower, but a small recreational area, by the looks of it. Sonic took out a telescope to examine it further.

On a pier that stretched into the bay, there were beds placed across it military cot style. Next to those was a shack with its back to the water, with a person fishing from it. There was a man climbing up a ladder on the very tall but thin tower, with a bow and arrow on his back, and several people were surrounding a large square hole in the beach, tossing things into it. As the horn blew, they slowed down whatever they were doing to look to the cause. Most waved back, and went back to what they were doing.

"Hey! It's an actual town or somethin'!" Sonic announced to the ship. A small round of cheers came from those on board, before they docked, and walked onto the pier.

A man walked up to them, his arms in the air.

"Welcome to our wonderful settlement! Here, simply put, we just don't care." The smiling local greeted. -_Awesome._- "What brings you to our humble community?"

Sonic a lot of talking in the background, probably about him but disregarded it. "Well, we saw the tower, and we thought someone was living here."

"Oh, An Hero Point? Yes, it has quite a history with this settlement." The greeter began, crossing his arms. "You see, one of the less favored characters who traveled with us, did not understand the fact that our manners tend to get forgotten sometimes, although we are all friends here. So, he built a pillar, from the ground up, from on top of it, as he went."

"Because we believe in survival of the fittest and respect, if he was so willing to take his life from himself in order to avoid us, we took it as an insult. Since we couldn't do anything to stop or harm him at the point where we all figured out what he was doing, a chant began. They chanted 'do it, faggot', over and over again. When the pillar reached above the clouds, he jumped. As we were digging his grave at the spot he landed on, we struck coal. And then we fell into a small cave, where we found more coal, iron, and even gold!"

"The spot where he fell led us into our next mine. Instead of burying him where he fell, we began excavating the area. Some of us pointed out how he helped us in his death. Most of those people were drunk at the time. Instead of being grammatically correct, they all referred to him as 'an hero'. This joke caught on pretty fast, and eventually, we built a ladder reaching the top of the pillar, and built a platform there, with two diving boards: One into the ocean, for fun, and the other into the mine, in honor of what he led us to with his death."

"Cool story bro." Sonic commented.

"Oh well that's delightful." Knuckles remarked.

The man laughed. "Yes yes, indeed, right? Despite our somewhat barbaric and seemingly hateful ways of expressing our feelings, we don't really hate each other. We-"

"Who's the blue rat?" A brown bear who ran the fishery asked, peeking out from the corner of the shack.

Another man wearing dark green robes was limping to the store shouted at the bear. He was covered in soot. "Shut the fuck up and get fishing, you pedophile. A creep got me recently, and I swear if I fall three more feet, I'm DEAD. I need FOOD."

With a glare, the bear slowly moved behind the corner of the building. The man chuckled.

"We're just impolite, is all."

Sonic, followed by Tails, Knuckles, began walking over to the hole. There was a sign on the side of An Hero point. It read "An Hero Point. Do it faggot." People in the outdoor barracks looked at him as he passed.

"If I were you, I would _not_ park the boat there..." A shirtless bald man said, trying to sound concerned, but Sonic could tell he was holding back a laugh.

"Why's that?"

"... do it faggot, do it faggot, do it faggot, DO IT FAGGOT!"

"Take a look at what we're mining with," the man replied before sinking his head into his hands, stretching his face to wipe off the silly look he had.

Sonic began to jog over to the edge of the perfectly square hole down. When he finally got to the edge, he let out a curse in surprise.

At ten feet down, there was TNT. TNT all across the ground of the pit, and Sonic was sure it went down to at least thirty more feet. He looked up to An Hero Point, where the chant was being shot at, and saw the man he saw climbing the tower earlier with the bow and arrow.

"Just what the fuck is he doing?" Sonic asked aloud, hoping the crowd would answer.

One of them did. "This guy made some device that allows us to respawn, and he's testing it, and if it doesn't work, we at least have something to remember him by. DO IT FAGGOT..."

Sonic's jaw was dropped down, as he looked back at the pit, which had to be half a kiloton, and back up to the suicidal man. He had no trouble jumping off, and was readying his bow.

"GET BACK GET BACK GET BACK!" Sonic shouted, backpedaling and throwing his friends away from the pit.

As Sonic was creating a scene with his friends, several people looked back at him, some laughing.

"GET OUTTA THERE IT'S GONNA BLO-"

"GAAAGHHHFUCK!" One of the watchers screamed in pain. Sonic turned to see the cause, and saw an arrow sticking out of his chest, the shaft standing out vertically. -_Did he just..._-

A strange sound silenced the crowd.

The falling man hit the ground, and let out a disgusting sound upon landing. It was mixed with a thud, when his flesh hit the ground, cracking, as his bones had broken, and a splat, as the landing was so harsh, the bits of broken bones tore the muscle and skin, allowing blood to fly high. -_~Gooory, gory, what a hell of a way to die...~_- Except for the arrowed man screaming in pain, they all remained silent. But not for the pathetic heap of matter that was once a man. They all turned their heads, and Sonic turned his as well.

A tall, green abomination began walking with its four legs across the platform of TNT crates that were nailed together, to the man who had fell. He barely looked like a man, now, his intestines were coming out, his humerus can be found beside his head, his left leg looked like a musical note on paper, all while sitting in the welter of his gore.

As the green abomination reached the man, it sat down, and looked at him. He noticed that his eyes still worked, and were looking around. The creature had a frown that stretched across his face. It looked sorry for the man. With an intake that would remind one of a hospital vegetable, the thing spoke.

"_KTSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS-_"

It exploded, igniting the TNT, sending several boxes flying into the air, killing several settlers, and shaking the ground severely. There was so much going on, so much damage being inflicted on their heads, they could only get pictures of what was happening. Pictures of destruction, once every second.

* * *

Twenty seconds after the chaos had ended, Sonic picked himself up. Smoke filled the area, and people were in the water.

"FUCK!" The bear from the fishery shouted, swinging his door open. "I _MISSED_ THAT?"

Sonic checked his friends, and responded to the bear. "I don't know what happened, but whatever it was, you missed it." Tails had fainted, but Knuckles was just shocked. In the background, he could hear Qom Nasheed playing in the background, but not sure from where.

"SONIC!" A shrill cry came from beyond the smoke.

As Sonic guessed who it was, Amy came up and hugged the poor hedgehog.

"Oh Sonic, I was so worried you were hurt! An-"

"Ames," Sonic cut off. "I'm alright. And I'm glad you care and all, but can you give me a moment to marvel at how I'm still alive? Give me space to breathe?"

Knuckles rolled onto his back, gasping. "He's got a point."

She let go of her love and walked over to the pillar, still worried.

Sonic slowly stood up, and stretched his back. He walked over to the side of the now enormous crater, looking at the hole through the slowly clearing smoke.

"WOO!" Sonic cheered. "I SURVIVED THAT! ANYONE ELSE?"

"I was blown into the water, but I'm okay..." One replied, splashing in the shallow waters.

"I'm not so fine, but-FUCK MY PYRAMID!" A second answered.

A third shouted from the epicenter of the blast. "I'm not sure how I _survived that_... I was underground, too, I dug into some rocks after you guys ABANDONED ME BEHIND TNT AN-"

"Embrace the suck, Sweets. Embrace the suck." A fourth shushed his friend.

Shadow commented on the joking survivors. "I love how you guys are saying it's a matter of who's left alive, not who's dead..."

"LOOK AT THAT, LOOK AT THAT, YOU CAN SEE STRAIGHT INTO BEDROCK, RIGHT THERE." A survivor on the edge of the blast site spoke quickly, followed by reactions of others by him.

Everyone was off the ship by now, and was surrounding Sonic and his friends. The smoke was lifting, and the observant survivor that spotted bedrock began pointing out other things.

"And look, you can see shreds of peoples' clothes all over the place, you got a fuckton of coal right there, some steel there, some nice gold and red shit there, and... holy shit... _DIAMONDS_!"

"DIAMONDS?" Asked those around the blast.

"DIAMONDS?" The bear, the robed man, and the man who greeted the heroes said in unison.

"A CELEBRATION I SAY!" The greeter shouted from behind Sonic. He suddenly sounded so familiar, and when he turned around, he noticed it. Blue hair, yellow shirt, overalls, and an floppy shoes. Sonic was convinced that it was an older version of Rolf from Ed, Edd, 'n' Eddy. With a gasp of delight, Sonic threw his arms into the air.

As the celebrations began, the survivors began tossing torches into and around the hole. One man went into the forest, armed with nothing but flint and steel. Others began setting up games. The bear began serving all the fish he had caught. The sound of eerie death was replaced with the ambient sounds of chattering people, laughs, and an instrument here and there.

Sonic was slowly walking around the pit. In the blast site, many joyful miners gathered the resources that they had mined very carelessly, with great joy. On the shore, there gathered people around a camp fire. One of them, a person wearing a gas mask, sweat shirt and snow pants, was playing a simple guitar tune.

"~What a _beautiful_ face I have _found_ in this place that is _cirrclliing allll aaround the suun..._~" The man next to the guitarist sang to the tune.

"Fucking hipster." One of those around the campfire whispered to another, who began chuckling.

Sonic noticed a flash from behind him, and turned to see Amy, taking a picture of the ludicrously large hole in the ground. Sonic walked up to her.

"Hey Amy, can I have the camera? I want to take some shots."

Amy turned, and smiled. "Sure."

Sonic took the camera she held out and began dashed off, ready to take pictures of funny moments.

Sonic had organized a race, where contestants had to dig through sand, dirt, and eventually rock, to reach the prize room, all with glass walls so people could see how they were doing. As the leader of the race, Knuckles, reached the halfway point, someone tore out a layer of stone from everyone's pile of earth and placed TNT in its place. Sonic took a snapshot of Knuckles' race progress, just before he was about to reach the TNT. -_Owned._-

Explosions shook the ground as Sonic walked over to the ship, and Tails and Marine was giving some curious locals a class on how to make boats as big and strong as theirs. Sonic snapped a picture of the stupefied miners as they realized they could make a boat out of four materials, and not a large amount of wood like they thought they needed. -_I'm not taking pictures because they're stupid. Hell, Tails might __as well said "IT'S FUCKING MAGIC, I AIN'T GOTTA EXPLAIN THIS SHIT". I'm taking pictures because they make funny faces._-

After the shooting of said funny faces, Sonic walked along the side of the hole, he glanced around toward the ocean. It was nice out tonight, the moon was reflected along the water, the festivities by the hole in the ground was surreal, and it all fit into place.

Sonic sighed. "Man, this place can't get any better."

Sonic turned to see that the whole forest was set on fire. His jaw dropped in shock by the fact that hardly anyone noticed or cared. Out of the forest came a man wearing a rubber suit and a gas mask, with an axe. He stood on the ledge of the steep hill that led to the forest, back to the fire, and whipped his axe around. He began strumming it like a guitar, trying to make guitar noises through the sound-muffling gas mask. Sonic snatched a picture of that, too.

"Cunt." Knuckles groaned at Sonic as he passed by, half of his body covered in bandages.

"What did I do?" Sonic shouted back.

"Nothing, that's what you did. You just took pictures while I was about an inch away from getting blown to bits." Knuckles spat back.

"Oh well _EXCUUUUSE ME_, I'm not the one challenging people to races because I know I-"

_WHACK_


	24. Run To the Hills

With this chapter, my fic joins the 60k words club. If I did the math right, that's more than 98% of the rest of the Sonic fanfics on this site.** LIKE A BOSS**.

In other news, my LIKE A BOSS-ness has been revoked since I only recently realized I made a duplicate chapter. After I stopped herping and derping, I fixed my errors, and I realize that THIS MANY CHAPTERS IS ANNOYING to manage and update, and the fact that I wrote the whole thing in _one single Open Office file_ is not helping at all. In future stories: NO DOZENS OF SHORT CHAPTERS. JUST ONE DOZEN LONG CHAPTERS SHOULD DO IT.

Thank you for your time with this message. Now time to paint the wall a bit more red. WITH MY FOREHEAD.

* * *

**CHAPTER 23: RUN TO THE HILLS  
**

Sonic awoke, but didn't move a muscle. He felt like sleeping in, thinking about how fun that dream was. -_Because it was, go back and read it again if you want._- But alas, he had things to do and places to go. -_Oh, and women to beat._-

Feeling like a hundred bucks, Sonic walked proudly out into the street followed by his knights. They looked around. The streets were littered with people suffering massive headaches, and some people were lying on the ground. -_Reminds me of a flood that happened in London in 1814. This beer vat burst open, and a million and a half liters of beer flowed out into the streets, killing more than a dozen people. I wonder if they died of intoxication rather than actually drowning._- He noticed a green armored bird walking up to him.

"Oi, blue headed rat, thick headed pussy, mister chucklefuck, where the Christ were you guys?" Lamorak cursed, agitated, as he stumbled over to them. -_Why does Jet have tourettes in this story? Not complaining though._-

"I don't chuckle." Gawain groaned, rubbing his head. -_You know, first I met Billy Mays, now I find out that Lamorak is the equivalent to a useful Tourettes Guy. Awesome._-

"Where were you?" Percival asked while walking over. "Oh, I remember, you were running around town dead drunk. And I remember a bat woman..."

"Nope." Lamorak shot down Percival's implication quickly.

"Yeah, she had a fan like yours." Sonic commented.

"What the fuck are you on about?" Lamorak mumbled as he rubbed his head again.

"I'm sorry, but were you always this curse spouting ruffian?" Caliburn asked.

Lamorak startled, and shook his head rapidly, shaking himself awake. "Oh, you're not the first to say that. If you want me to tone down on it, alright. I tend to lose my manners when fighting, and celebrating, and things like that."

"Oh, so you were drunk when we first met?" Percival asked.

"Probably."

Sonic looked around, back between Percival and Lamorak. "Umm... I don't get it?"

Percival chuckled. "Oh, just imagine what the _most sexist person_ would say to a curious young girl who wants to leave a peasant's life." -_Oh SHIT HAHAHAHA..._-

"Again, sorry." Lamorak apologized. "I don't think when I drink, but that's the fun part."

"Hahaha, whatever!" Sonic laughed, and shook the cartoonish scene of Lamorak with a huge head screaming every insult that came to mind at a random civilian from his head. -_"YOUR MOTHER WAS A HAMSTER, AND YOUR FATHER WREAKS OF ELDERBERRIES."_- "Look... haha... I have that mage girl, Merlina, to deal with. I don't trust her. At all. Plus, she's the one that pulled me by my tail into this mess."

"So you're going to attack her? After all you've done?" Caliburn protested.

"No, no. Just going to tell her my side of the story, rub it in her face, and high tail it."

"I see..." Gawain said. "But it's just a mage girl. She seemed pretty nice, what harm could she do with it?" -_Oh, if you knew._-

"It's not a matter of what she could do with it," The man with the plan began. "I struck a blood pact with the Lady of the Lake; I leave with the Scabbard, never to return with it."

"Why?" Percival questioned. She obviously had something wrong with it. Sonic figured, what with her stoic Templar knight ways, it was probably the blood pact part.

"Because, this isn't the first time I'm playing the hero. I've been saving hides for a while now, and even though you all look like the hides I've been saving, I want some reward from all this. The Scabbard should make at home jobs easier."

"But..." She stammered, but threw hands at her face. "Gah..."

"Deal with it." Sonic plainly stated, flicking his transparent jet black helmet visor down as if they were sunglasses. "Let's go pay Merlina a visit. Remember; be ready for anything, but don't look all rough and tough and stuff."

The knights nodded in unison. "Alright." Except for one person. "AFFIRMITIVE."

* * *

-_You know, I wonder what the group of mercenaries are doing right now..._-

* * *

The small plant stood tall, thin, and it was a bit heavy. It was not a straight, it was side winding, curving sideways and at the very end of the plant, it was going back up, slightly. The thick, wood-like layers of the plant, designed to hold the water inside it for later use, was covered with pricks. Normally, you'd find it in the desert, but here, in Hell, it grows just fine if you put it in sand and water it.

Rachel loomed over the cactus.

She looked back at Fang "Do I haff t-"

"Do it, or it's back to nailball fighting with you."

The cat girl looked back at the cactus. A moment passed, and she sighed.

* * *

-_... That's something I will ponder another day._-

* * *

The group of heroes traveled on the dirt road, around them thick forests, leading to the castle of Camelot. Caliburn was trailing behind the group, hopping on his tip.

-_If I run into Slenderman in this forest, I swear, I'll-wait a minute. Can I make myself a king earlier?_-

Tempted by this realization, Sonic spoke out. "So, the king is dead, and I don't think there's a prince or queen: what now?"

"Well, who am I?" Caliburn asked proudly. "I'm the sacred sword Caliburn, _I_ choose who is worthy of the crown!"

After a brief moment of silence, Sonic put on a shocked face and pointed toward himself. "_Me?_"

The knights were, unlike Sonic, legitimately shocked and could not believe it.

"What?" Percival gasped.

"INCONCEIVABLE!" Galehaut noted. -_Oh god I wish I had said my name was Inigo Montoya SO MUCH now!_-

"I JUST GOT HERE!" Sonic shouted, much more believable than his first shout. "Three days ago, I fall from the sky, and I am the king of this place."

"Good lord," Lamorak cursed in amazement. "Lucky."

"Welp, _congratulations_," Bors applauded, sticking out his hand to shake the new king's. Sonic accepted it. "You did a lot to get where you are, I'm sure."

Taking his hand back from Bors, Sonic was on the verge of complaining. "But I barely put effort into it. Sure, I got slashed at, but the Lady of the Lake fixed that for me."

"That's good, that's good." Bors complimented.

Galahad was stuttering a mile a minute."W-w-wh-... bu-b-bu... How?"

"I feel the same." Sonic assured Galahad. "Don't know how it works, but _I ain't complainin'!_" Sonic then went ahead and began hopping around in excitement -_because one, I need to lie good, and two, I never really got to use my king powers._- to celebrate.

After the king's short period of prancing around in celebration, Sonic ran back over to the knights. "Alright, since you all followed my orders even before I was a king, listen up. I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting out of here. I have a life to waste. All in favor of leaving with me, say 'aye'."

No response.

Sonic felt annoyed. "What? No one wishes to become as incredible as I am, falling into nations and taking them over in days? Except using my abilities for good, of course."

Percival frowned. "You're leaving with the Scabbard. Isn't that enough?"

"Arthur went insane with it. I don't want to go insane and destroy the world or something, I haven't finished looking at it yet." Sonic stated.

Percival was frustrated with Sonic. "Ugh, you can be such an arse to everyone, and how do you not mind? How does your conscious just le-"

"_Indentured servant_, shut the fuck up." -_Plus twenty asshole points._-

* * *

The gates to Camelot Castle opened, and in came the seven knights. Merlina was in the courtyard, gazing at the flowers. As they approached her, Sonic took the Scabbard from his back, and proceeded to go up to Merlina.

"Merlina," Sonic greeted with a nice tone. -G_entlemen._-

"Sonic, at last." Merlina said. "You've defeated the king?"

Sonic nodded. "Yes, but when I killed him, I could have swore he turned into a puff of smoke."

Sonic had rose a few eyebrows, and thought more was needed.

"A purple puff of smoke." Sonic said, raising an eyebrow at Merlina. "Like those knights of the underworld."

Merlina looked down and smirked. "There was never any King Arthur."

"Well, you're wrong." Sonic chuckled, as did his fellow knights.

Merlina's smirk slowly vanished, replaced with a confused look. "What do you mean?"

"I am the new king!" Sonic shouted triumphantly. "Caliburn chose me!"

The mage girl let out an "oh" in realization, and slight relief. "Well done, and thank you, Sonic." As she finished, Merlina began walking toward him.

Sonic swung the Scabbard on his back. "I forgot to tell you."

Merlina stopped in her tracks, within arm's distance Sonic. "What is it?"

Sonic withdrew Caliburn. "Nimue says I'm leaving with this or it's off to Hell for me, so..."

Realizing their cue, the knights withdrew their signature weapons.

"You will be sending me home. One way or anoth-"

A loud groan cut him off. The groan seemed to be a flat tone. Just before Sonic was about look back at Galehaut, the groan was replaced with a maniacal laugh. Sonic looked around to its source, to see the that there had been a fly on the wall of their conversation.

-_Almost_ _literally._- On the wall, was a knight, fully armored from head to toe, with a sword with two blades extending from both ends of the hilt. The armor was black, and hardly reflected light. On the edges of each plate, there was gold lining that seemed to glow in the dark. -_...Neon?_- His body glowed with a purple aura, probably meaning whoever it was under the armor had recently fell under control of the underworld.

Sonic stepped at the knight. "Who are you?"

"And why do you keep making noise?" Lamorak asked impatiently. His tolerance was as thin as his signature weapon, his bladed fans made of feathers.

With a loud plop, the new black knight hopped off the wall, flicking off suction cups. It landed in front of Galehaut. Galehaut stared into his eyes, and the darkness stared back.

"WHO ARE THEE, SIR KNIGHT?" Galehaut asked politely, while twirling his two-handed sword.

The dark knight made sounds in response. The sounds did not make words.

"Neigh-oh ene-od he-or fri-me..." It said.

"Who the fuck are you? Cthulhu?" Sonic shouted at the seemingly unintellectual knight.

Without warning, Merlina seized the Scabbard on Sonic's back. Sonic turned to fight over it, and he was not happy in the slightest. "HEY! GIVE THAT BACK!"

"With the Scabbard, I will be able to undo my grandfather's greatest mistake..." Merlina said softly.

Sonic rose Caliburn above his head. He was enraged.

"AND THAT'S FUCKING YOUR _GRANDMOTHER_, NOW _GIVE IT BACK_!"

"He-tch ou-mes!" The unknown knight cried out as it jumped to the side of Galehaut and dashed straight through the ranks of the knights and at Sonic. Caliburn said a warning about him before the mysterious knight smashed into Sonic's back, knocking him to the ground, and causing Sonic to fumble Caliburn.

"I shall make this realm... eternal..."

"_GET OFFA ME!_" Sonic said, kicking the knight in the face. Sonic rolled on his side away from the unknown knight, and dashed for Caliburn. "GET HIM! I'll deal with Merlina!"

As soon as Sonic finished speaking, they all were running at the strange knight, and Sonic was charging with Caliburn over his head at the mage girl, who was raising the Scabbard above her head, ready to pierce the ground.

"NOPE!" Sonic cried out as he jumped at Merlina, swinging Caliburn down at her.

But it was too late. Merlina pierced the ground, seemingly causing red lightning to strike the ground behind her. The force from the explosion it let off blew Sonic back, and caused a pulse of energy to push the knights away from the mysterious knight.

As the knights picked themselves up, they looked to see the mysterious knight walk up to Merlina.

He put his hand on Merlina's shoulder. "Le-'m sor-o! Gu-ow!"

A ball of red energy that shot lightning out had surrounded them, and began to lift the two into the sky.

"Aw SHIT!" Lamorak cursed.

"_LEG IT!_" Sonic ordered, immediately doing so. Without any sort of denial, his comrades followed him.

"SHIT JUST GOT REAL!" Sonic exclaimed as he ran around the castle, which was being deconstructed and tossed into the air as he spoke. He began to run faster, forming a blue aura around him as he ran, and in seconds was outside the castle walls, leaving his slacking knights behind.

Gawain was saying his prayers as he ran. "-"

Lamorak snatched the rosary beads from Gawain's hand "YOU CAN COUNT YOUR HAIR BEADS LATER, WOMAN, JUST RUN AND _NOTHING BUT RUN!_"

"Where did Sonic go?" Percival asked, somewhat worried. She knew she was the person closest to Sonic's lead, but she couldn't see him. As she dashed out the gates, Percival saw Sonic dashing halfway down the trail at full speed, crying "_RUUUN TOO THE HIILLLLS!_"

As they ran, the castle had outright exploded, the sky turned red, clouds overcast the sunny sky, and thunder roared. They all dashed into the tunnel, following the trail of Sonic's dust. Percival stopped just outside of it to look as the ball of energy that contained the masked knight and Merlina ascended into the sky and opened a portal to the underworld like a hurricane. She was tugged inside the tunnel as Galahad sprinted by her and snatched her arm.

* * *

The band of warriors exited the tunnel a safe distance away from where the castle was. -_The tunnel was much easier now that I'm followed by six people._- Sonic looked at the large floating islands which he was just on, and saw a giant jester hat-like structure. Slowly, pieces of the castle were being placed on top of each other, building an entirely new castle. -_I wish I had house building skills like that._-

"Welp," Lamorak sighed. "We are lookin' pretty done for."

"It keeps spreading..." Percival worried.

"IT WILL BE OVER TO WHERE WE ARE STANDING IN APPROXIMATELY TWO HOURS." Galehaut announced.

"And what next? A Colorless Deep Fog swoops in and demons spawn in there, too?" Sonic complained.

"Knights of the Round Table," Gawain began. "Are we going to simply sit and watch our kingdoms ruin?"

Percival sighed. "Gawain... There's bou-"

Sonic interrupted her. "You're going to give up? Like that?"

"... No." Percival answered. "I was about to say, there's bound to be a way. But, now, I don't think seven of us can handle this situation..."

"... Well, aren't you saying that now...?" Caliburn pointed out.

"It's not like I have a choice on whether or not I fight. I am saying, Sonic, this is almost hopeless!"

"_Almost_. But you're right." Sonic admitted. "I don't know what the hell that new black knight is bringing to the table, but I know for sure, seven of us may not be able to handle this."

There was a short silence. Galahad was about to say something, when Sonic spoke first.

"Which is why we're going to have a quick recruitment rally in the city." Sonic said, a cunning smile on his face. "Percival, we're both well liked there, so we will be gathering an army to raid the castle with. When we strike, we are not going to waste our time. We are going straight into the heart of this mess."

"Wait!"

All the knights turned to the speaker. Before them, standing within an illuminating circle, was Nimue. She was transparent, meaning she was not actually there with them.

"Before you go raiding with that plan, there's still time to stop this catastrophe from spreading further if you act now!" She said.

The lady of the lake stepped aside, and waved her hand over the circle of light she appeared in. A map showed, and on it, four points had lit up on the map in a square shape around the castle.

"Use the sacred swords, put them in these positions, and it will stop the darkness from spreading!" Nimue explained.

There was a moment of silence. -._.. WAIT A MINUTE! There's only three shrines, and the map was changed. The hell? How did that... what did I do to remove a shrine from existence? Is it because the book wants me to pay for my assholery and it takes out a moderately difficult thing to replace it with something else? Maybe the new black knight balances out the lack of a fourth shrine? Ah, he doesn't __look too tough. I'll roll with it._-

"You heard the lady," Sonic said, snatching Percival's sword. "Like I said, you're coming with me, Percival. Who wants this, ah- here," Sonic stammered as he held the sword by the blunt side of the blade to Galahad, "Take this, Galahad, put it in that spot there, in the Molten Mines."

"Alright!" Galahad accepted the orders proudly. "I will keep it clean for you, Percival!"

Sonic nodded in understanding, and he turned to the rest of the knights. "Oh, and groups of twos. Bors, go with Galahad to the Molten Mines, Galehaut you're with Gawain in the plains, and Lamorak-"

There were seven knights, including himself. Lamorak was the odd one out.

"Well, guess you're on your own, Lamorak. Going through the woods." Sonic said. He tossed Lancelot's sword to Lamorak, who caught it with delight.

"Oh, gladly!" Lamorak replied, swinging the large sword at nothing.

"Everyone know what they're doing?" Sonic said aloud to make sure everyone did. They all nodded. "Well get going!"

With that, the two groups of two and Lamorak went off to their respective locations. Sonic was just about to leave when Nimue called to him.

"Sonic! Before you go!" Nimue grabbed Sonic's attention just as he turned his back. Sonic turned around, with a smile on his face.

"Yes Nimue?"

"Why did you set the forest on fire?"

Sonic was stunned. He could not come up with an appropriate response for it.

"Wait, you what?" Percival asked.

Nimue sighed, and looked to Percival to answer her question. "Last night, you lit up a napkin that was stuffed into a bottle of alocohol and Sonic threw it. Not many people know that alcohol is flammable..." As she was finishing up that sentence, she glared at Sonic.

"I am sorry, I did it for shits and giggles."

"And now Lamorak has to go through the fire." -_AND THE FLAMES HE CARRIES OON!_-

"... Hope he makes it."

"... That's it? All you have to say is 'hope he makes it'?"

"Not much else to say. He's going alone while everyone else went in groups of two. It's going to stay like that, unless you want to help."

"No, no. I have preparations to finish."

As she finished, Nimue curtsied and bowed her head. "I will be seeing you soon." And, with that, she fizzled into thin air, and the glowing ground she stood on changed back to its normal state.

Percival glared at Sonic, who was sporting a face with no one expression on it, but you could see in his eyes that he was tense, and probably regretting his decision. -_Whatever I do, don't coolface._-

"Anyway let's go." Sonic hurriedly said as he turned around and began running toward the city, with Percival trailing behind.


	25. URA

**CHAPTER 24: URA**

Gawain and Galehaut dashed through the plains. It was night now, and the light of the moon and the stars gave light to the vast plains. When Gawain reached the top of a hill, he saw dozens of underworld knights gather in position. He turned to his comrade to announce that they were getting close.

"We are close! There are enemies up ahead!"

"ENEMIES AHEAD IMPLIES POSSIBLE FORTIFICATIONS." Galehaut examined. "THESE FORTIFICATIONS ARE MOST LIKELY BUILT TO STOP US FROM TRAVELING TO THE STONE SHRINE."

"Inside a fortification?" Gawain repeated. "We'll just have to smash our way in there! Get over here!"

Willingly, Galehaut rushed over to Gawain's side. Gawain picked his slower fellow knight up, and began to run with him on his shoulders.

As the enemies drew closer, the Red Knight reared back his hand, and yards away from collision, he tossed Galehaut over the underworld monsters. Just as quickly, Gawain withdrew his axes and slashed at those in his way.

Gawain dashed to try to keep up with the flying friend of his, but the knights of the underworld had slowed him down. He hacked at those in his direct path and kicked their bodies into the others before they had a chance to disintegrate into purple and black smoke.

Gawain had just finished a third row of enemies when Galehaut landed a row ahead of him, impaling a foe with his heavy broad sword. As the creatures turned to attack him, the large knight's feet began to hover over the ground as fire spat out of the bottom. He effortlessly moved to from side to side and slashed, smashing through the victims.

Gawain caught up to Galehaut, and they continued under the massive archway of stone, slaughtering those who entered their way.

Dozens and dozens of fallen enemies later, the fortification came within sight. The front of it was huge, and on either side of the door rested two large wheels, implicating that this huge base could move. Upon closer examination, Galehaut realized that the 'front side' of this 'fortification' was not a wall at all, but a series of humongous wagons, lined up with each other.

"Even a camp ends up looking like a fortress!" Gawain shouted.

"INDEED," Galehaut agreed. "REGARDLESS, IT WILL FALL BEFORE US!"

Gawain smirked and looked back to his friend. "That's the spirit!"

The knights charged into the camp, slashing and attacking all of the camp's opposing force in between the wagons in the caravan. Creeping under another large cart, Galehaut remembered something related to the subject.

"IF LANCELOT JUMPS OUT OF ONE OF THESE CARTS..." Galehaut began.

Gawain felt bad for laughing. "Hahaha... oh blast you... Did he ever tell us what that was all about?"

"NEGATIVE."

"Oh. Shame, then. Rest in peace, Knight of the Cart..."

* * *

Bors and Galahad saw the black smoke rising from the sea of lava as they drew closer to the Molten Mines' front gate.

"This is it." Galahad began, ready to charge into the hordes of monsters that were bound to be up ahead. "Molten Mines? From here, looks like 'Cauldron' would be a better name."

Bors stuck a hand in front of him to stop him from doing so.

"Stay behind me." Bors ordered calmly. "If I have trouble, feel free to help."

Bors ran ahead. Worried, Galahad chased after him, withdrawing Percival's rapier. "What do you mean by that?"

Bors raced into the mining town, where people hid in their homes, under siege by the monsters that had taken control of the camp in order to stop the knights from stopping the spread of the underworld gate. He could see that said monsters had warped in front of him to do so. He did not withdraw his sword.

As the Brown Knight approached the knight of the underworld, it raised its sword. Bors rolled into a ball, and swerved to the right a yard away. Catching the larger knight off guard, Bors unballed and kicked the being of the underworld off the path and over the shops. He flew over a shop or two, and landed elsewhere.

Shocked from Bors' choice of combat, the next few enemies rose their swords as if they were harpoons. Bors dashed toward the next one. As the knight lunged his sword at the armadillo, he swatted it away and sent a roundhouse kick to the side of his enemy, sending it flying over a counter.

The next knight of the underworld ran toward Bors before he could start running. The monster was mid-swing when Bors had noticed him. Unable to counter correctly, he turned his back to the attacker.

The Brown Knight's armor was like his shell. It had many plates along the back so it could bend, roll, and protect the user. The defensive power of the armor added on top of the armadillo's already hard as metal back, creates a nigh-impenetrable piece of armor covering all of Bors' blind side.

The blow that was aimed directly for Bors' spine simply bounced back. Feeling the blow get shot back, Bors spun around and swiped his legs at the underworld knight, sending it on its backside. Bors quickly grabbed its shoulders and tossed it aside.

Galahad ran up to his brawling friend, confused.

"What was that all about? Why didn't you just slash them?" Galahad asked, wondering what his reason was for this.

Bors opened his mouth for a long winded explaination. "These creatures are demons. Demons come from the underworld. Right now, there is a portal to the underworld directly over the castle, and several miles around it. What do you think happens to a demon that dies?"

Galahad blinked. "... Back to the underworld...?"

"..."

"... Oh, I see." Galahad said. "We kill these guys here, they're going to come back elsewhere."

"Right! They'll be a bother to us later. We leave them alive here, they can't warp to us later. Let's go, now, the portal is getting bigger."

And they dashed off deeper into the molten mines.

* * *

Lamorak marched through a grassy meadow toward the forest. The darkness of the gate widening and sunset aside, the sky in front of him was exceptionally dark. Pushing the thought to the back of his mind, he continued to walk. Over the hill, he knew, the forest would be there, lying in wait, like it always had for the hundreds of years it had been there. Sure, it will be crawling with demons, monsters and other vile creatures, but the pedestal will stay in the same place it was always; deep into the forest.

As Lamorak climbed the hill, he heard loud noises. _Crunches_. Sounds of wood bending and breaking. Not too excited about finding out what it was making that noise, he didn't rush to the top of the hill so he could see over the horizon.

Until an Ent climbed on the top of the hill and screamed. The Ent was on fire.

"Dear lord!" Lamorak shouted in a hushed tone.

The Ent glanced at Lamorak, but before it could do anything, it fell down, and began tumbling down the hill, leaving many branches and imprints behind.

"An Ent on fire..." Lamorak noted to himself. He grew anxious as he approached the hilltop. "Well, you know what they say..."

As he reached the top of the hill, the hawk scanned the forest. It was on fire, even worse than how the Ent was.

"You can't see the forest from the trees..." Lamorak sighed. "_Fantastic_. Just _fan_-tastic."

Lamorak walked toward the forest, with great hesitation. Finally, Lamorak ground his boot into the dirt, and charged.

Immediately, a ten by ten grid of knights teleported in front of him.

Lamorak was not ready for the sudden drop of enemies, and began to skid. "FFFFFFFFFF-"

When he was at a preferable combat speed, he jumped at the first monster swinging Lamorak's sacred sword, and one of his bladed fans. Within a moment, he was through, with a ten by two hole through the ten by ten grid of soldiers. Those who weren't slain turned to see how far the hawk had gone, but they could not see him through the fire and smoke. They could hear the blades clang against armor, however. The armor of their allies.

* * *

Sonic This time, there were special enemies, and not just underworld knights. There were people who had gone to the underworld after their death, their bodies looking like how they would a month later. -_If I run into a zombified Fang and his group, I am going to make so many fire related jokes._- The poor souls who came across included vikings, Romans, elves, dwarfs, and barbarians. And, there were other creatures, such as goblins, creatures composed entirely of slime, and amphibious creatures with squid-like heads. There were hundreds, thousands even. When they were defeated, all the same, they turned into a purple and black cloud of smoke, and disappeared.

While smashing through a dozen more of these creatures, Percival saw something over the crowds.

"What is that thing?" She shouted.

Sonic smashed the goblin mage that was in his way with the blunt side of Caliburn to look. Above the crowd hovered a giant floating eye. The eye had tentacles sprouting out of the lids, each emitting balls of magic and throwing them.

Sonic gasped in fear. "_JESUS CHRIST!_" As a ball of magic flew his way, he grabbed the goblin mage in front of him and pulled him into the shot. In a moment, the mage was reduced to nothing but smoke and air. Sonic then put Caliburn in his left hand.

Caliburn began to suggest otherwise. "Now is not the time to deal with the floating eye, Sonic! Deal with the minions first!"

Sonic readied his hidden gun. "It'll only take a..."

"...ura, ura urA, uRA, URA, URA! _URA!_"

Sonic heard a chant coming from behind the sea of creatures and the giant eye. Suddenly, dozens of bolts of magic and arrows flew at the giant eye and the batch of enemies in front of himself. Within seconds, the eye was ripped to shreds, and Sonic could not see beyond the sudden smoke screen caused by all the dying creatures that stood before him.

"_UURRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!_" The angry mob shouted in unison as the sound piercing armor became much louder and much clearer as they pierced enemies' personal defenses and began turning into smoke by the rows.

"PERCIVAL, GET DOWN!" Sonic ordered, curling up to avoid taking damage from friendly fire. Seconds after he curled over, he heard arrows and magic bolts fly over him for a good moment, until someone finally saw through the smoke.

"Hey! Stop shooting! Stop shooting!" A voice broke out over the crowd. "We found a couple knights!"

The arrows and magic missiles had ceased a moment later. Relieved, Sonic looked up. He saw an aged, moustached man. -_First human other than Merlina. Surprised he doesn't look like Eggman. Well he kinda does, but, kinda... Weird... but also oddly familiar..._- In his hand was a wand, and under his arm was a holy tome. He offered his free hand to Sonic.

"Hello, Sir Sonic." The man said, a smile growing on his face. "I believe you came here in an attempt to save us?"

"Well, saved you some effort!" A smirking archer replied, walking next to the priest.

Sonic took the priest's arm, and got up.

"He's right. We saw the darkness coming, and got ourselves prepared. Many of us were taken away from our homes once before. We've felt the pain that is the underworld's wrath. But never again." The old man lectured. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am the district's priest and doctor, Gerald." -_HOLY SHI- you know what, don't react. Jus-JUST roll with it._- "I organized this band of fighters."

Percival walked over, scanning the crowd of armed civilians. There were many different types of them; some had swords, some used daggers, others managed to get archery and spellcasting equipment. One person had a large paper in his hand, and was looking at it with wide eyes. -_What's on that paper?_- "And you did a fine job." She looked back at Gerald. "Now, what was that... thing?"

"We've taken a liking to calling it a 'Beholder'." Gerald answered. "Beauty, or, more fittingly for this situation, death, is in the eye of the Beholder."

"Hah, funny." Sonic said unenthusiastically. "Quite a nice pack you got there, doc."

Gerald looked back at the group, and laughed. "Ah, yes. Seventy-three people. Quite a swarm."

"Anyway," Sonic began. He stepped in front of the crowd. "Me and Percival came here for a couple of reasons. One, to tell you that the Knights of the Round Table are using Sacred Swords to stop the darkness in its tracks. Two, we came to get a resistance ready to fight the self appointed Dark Queen, Merlina."

"I've already amassed a resistance force, as you can see." Gerald said, proudly looking back to his group again. "We're sure to be victorious."

Smiling, Sonic turned and was about to usher the crowd to follow him, but Gerald stopped him.

"Wait." Gerald began. "This isn't a very important thing, but it's been an interesting topic for a while now."

Sonic faced Gerald again. "Alright, go."

"We all know that, if successful, we will be legends. Heroes. Some people want a name. No one can agree on a single name."

"Uh, yes, indeed," The man with the large paper in hand confirmed. "And can I have some time to make some weapons instructed by this plan?"

Sonic, wondering what he could be referencing, walked over to the curious man and grabbed the paper from him, and examined the sheet.

It was the blueprints for the Moist Nugget.

"You raided houses?" Caliburn shouted.

"Well, he was my rival," the inventor claimed. "And he's been missing for days."

Caliburn continued to chastise him. "You shouldn't be looting."

"Okay, sure. But whatever, it's a good thing he did, actually." Sonic interjected. "If we get a couple dozen people working on the guns and ammo working now and work until the barrier's up, we should have enough for everyone without a ranged weapon already."

There was a silence.

"Well?" Sonic asked powerfully as he turned to the masses. "Get workin'!"

"Yessir!" The blacksmith saluted.

Sonic began tossing out orders. "Everyone, get some scrap metal and wood lying around. Mages, heat the metal for the blacksmiths to bend and work with. Go go go! They're getting the barriers up as we speak! And you have to make stuff to shoot!... Also, where's a flag?"

"Sonic." Gerald coughed to get his attention. "Naming?"

After a moment of thought, Sonic turned to the man and opened his mouth.


	26. BOSS FIGHT

Just a little heads up, I'm running really slow on my schedule. This chapter was going to mark the beginning of double time, in which I would update on Wednesdays as well, but I am to preoccupied with my _**V**__**I**__**D**__**E**__**O **__**G**__**A**__**M**__**E**__**S**__**! **_If there is no rainbow color spectrum in "VIDEO GAMES", read it as though there were one. Anyway, enjoy the huge chapter.

* * *

**CHAPTER 25: BOSS FIGHT**

Gawain and Galehaut were racing through what seemed to be a tomb. Torches were the only light the vast hallway provided as they battled toward their destination.

As Gawain slayed the last underworld knight, Galehaut smashed down another glowing wall, revealing another passageway. Down the hall, there was the pedestal, brightly lit by magical markings on the ground around it, and the moonlight from above.

"This must be it! We've found it!" Gawain cheered triumphantly, dashing ahead of Galehaut toward the sacred shrine.

Suddenly, a hole appeared toward the end of the hallway. Alerted, Gawain prepared to jump.

And then the bricks in his path rose suddenly.

Unable to react quick enough, Gawain tripped over the risen path, and, due to his speed, was sent flying into the hole twenty feet away.

"GAWAIN!" Galehaut boomed as he ran over to where the hole was and looked down.

"Yeah yeah, I'm alright." Gawain said at the bottom of the hole. "I can probably climb u-"

Footsteps were heard directly behind Galehaut. Galehaut turned to see who was the owner of the voice.

It was a tall green abomination, with four legs. His eye holes were black, and its mouth was stuck in a frown as the creature talked.

"_KTSSSSS-_"

It exploded, leaving a lot of smoke in its wake. Galehaut was not damaged in the slightest by the blast, however. His armor was so dense it withstood the blast. He was knocked back a bit, but that's it. He felt grateful for that.

But, the feeling of triumph was cut short when he heard crackling. He began to tilt his head toward the ceiling to see that it was cracking, and for a moment, felt fear.

It wasn't because the ceiling was collapsing, though.

It was because the blast didn't push him back, but instead sent him slowly tilting backward into the hole.

"WORTHLESS FOOT APPAREL."

As Galehaut fell into the trap hole, the ceiling above him collapsed, with one chunk of the ceiling blocking the top of the pit.

Galehaut made a crash of a landing. Gawain stood aside, and rushed to help his friend up when the dust settled.

"We're not getting back up that way..." Gawain pointed out.

"OBVIOUSLY." Galehaut responded. "THE TUNNEL HERE IS OUR ONLY CHOICE."

They turned to walk down the hallway, to see a duck sitting in the middle of a pool with platforms in it. As they drew closer, they examined more details that became visible.

The duck was missing an eye, and he was scorched in several places. He had dried blood, dripping from his neck down. Regardless, he seemed relax and satisfied drinking some of the whiskey bottle in his hand. He was armored with a dull looking set of armor. Not dull as in, 'not sharp', but dull as in 'lack of emotion', in stark contrast to the person wearing it at the very moment. On the other side of the room was a ladder, but against it was a knee-high pile of gunpowder. In a hurry, Gawain reached for a torch. Gawain tossed the torch at the mound of explosive sand-like grains

The duck sprung into the air and caught the torch, and sat back down on the center-most platform in the pool.

"Hey! Who are you? Did you set up the mound there?" Gawain interrogated the crazy creature.

"Mah name es Degroot," The duck answered. "And YES! I DID." He pulled out several wooden balls, like cocoanuts, and lit the torch on fire. "I also made these puppies. Catch!"

* * *

"GRAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHH!"

A boulder was slammed onto the pedestal as Bors and Galahad approached it. They turned in sudden shock to the thrower and saw a musclebound bear, his fur beige with gray spots. He had dried blood coming down from his neck. He was on the cliff side on the other side of a lava river, throwing boulders at them.

"Galahad, do something, I'm going t-"

Bors was cut off by a large hand picking him up by his head. The armadillo squirmed as Galahad turned to attack the large underworld knight, but, striking too late, Bors was thrown across the cliff and at the rocky wall on the other side.

"BORS!" Galahad shouted.

He turned to the attacker, and focused on the underworld knight.

It began to give off a blue aura, as compared to its typical purple version. It began to levitate off the ground, and a moment later it went flying at the bear at blinding speeds.

The bear withstood the hit, but the underworld knight turned to smoke. Noticeably agitated by the hit, the bear jumped down into the lava river below.

"...Wait." Galahad said, realizing that an immediate suicide in response to getting hit was not right. He dashed to the edge of the cliff and saw platforms, held together by ropes. These platforms were connected to each other and to both rocksides. Bors was currently clenching onto the center platform to avoid being kicked off by the shock wave the large bear's landing made.

"What the...!"

* * *

After an amazingly fast construction of Moist Nuggets for everyone without a ranged weapon, Sonic raced toward the city gates, With Percival and seventy-three men trailing behind, chanting and cheering the words "White Death", the name Sonic had picked for the group, over and over again. As Sonic finally saw the gates, he saw one lone person, standing there.

It was a yellow cat, wearing black and red magic robes, holding a magic staff. They were torn, beaten, burned and tattered. The staff she carried had a scarlet glow illuminating from the orb at the top. -_OHFUCK IT'S CULTIST CHAN AGAIN. Or Rachel, or whatever her actual name is to you guys. I don't know, Amy never told me._-

She raised her staff and arms...

* * *

As Lamorak walked up to the shrine, he heard a sudden group of cracking, coming from all around him. He examined the treeline around the sacred shrine, and saw knights of the underworld not trying to kill him. They were pulling down the trees simultaneously, forming a ring of fire around him.

"Oi, bird-brain!" A gruff voice from behind him called out.

Lamorak turned to meet the owner of the voice, to see a weasel. He was as black as charcoal, and an oversized fang drooped to below his chin. He was holding one of the most complicated hand held mechanisms Lamorak had ever seen, but, taking a guess, Lamorak figured that it was a crossbow that held multiple bolts at once and the chamber can be spun to allow a new bolt in.

"You ain't stoppin' the spreadin'." The weasel said in an accent.

"What is thy name?" Lamorak asked, trying to act nobly to spite his enemy.

"Saxton. If I lose, tell Sonic 'fuck you', and 'you ain't seen the last of me'."

Lamorak grinned. "Oh, I'll be sure to do that, demon."

Saxton laughed. "A burnt guy from hell is called a demon nowadays?" He leaned in, smiling, just as cocky as his competitor. "Oh, I guess it's fitting."

Without any warning, Saxton began shooting at Lamorak. Lamorak raised the sword at an angle to deflect the bolt, but immediately after, another came. Lamorak deflected bolt after bolt, until all six of the shots were fired. Lamorak took this chance to run at his opponent. But, the run was over sooner than expected.

Saxton chuckled devilishly as he flicked the bolt cage off of his crossbow from hell and pulled a new, fully loaded cage out of a cloud of purple and black smoke. He loaded it into the crossbow and took aim again.

Knowing this was going to take a while, he thought of a way to advance while moving. When he hatched an idea, Saxton had his last bolt in the air already, and was taking the chamber cage off the crossbow.

"You're pretty good at makin' the shots fly around when I'm far away, ya _pelican_, but are you good at takin' 'em?" Saxton shouted, pulling a new batch of six rounds from thin air.

In a moment, Lamorak was a few feet away from Saxton. Saxton, not liking sword range combat, began to run backwards as he fired at Lamorak.

Lamorak took out one of his razor bladed fans and swung it as the bolt was within distance. It flew up about a foot into the air, spinning. Lamorak jumped into the air after it and kicked the crossbow bolt at his crispy weasel enemy.

The bolt soared in his gut, and the weasel grunted and slightly keeled over in pain. In a moment, however, Saxton tore the round out of his stomach and stood up straight.

"I came from the Underworld, mate! Your gonna have try harder to put me back in that shithole!"

"Oh, I see that!" Lamorak replied, satisfied to find an efficient way of fighting Saxton.

* * *

Bors steadied himself on the rickety platform. The only thing that was keeping it upright were the ropes, which connected to other platforms, which was connected to all the rock walls. It was like walking on a rope bridge with no guard ropes and many of the pieces were missing. The armadillo had bigger troubles than falling, however. Much bigger, heavier, and louder problems to deal with first.

Bors turned to the giant bear to find that it was right in front of, poised to jump. It was so large, that it had to jump from platform to platform, and the bear could not manage walking on the ropes. For a moment, Bors thought he felt fear. He wasn't sure if he could beat this monster.

But then he realized that this thing had to lack decent balancing skills. And that the rope is probably under a lot of tension when he jumps.

Bors quickly jumped to the right, avoiding the shock wave created by the bear smashing down on the ground again. He quickly got up, and turned to the monster. He withdrew his sword, as he was going to need it.

Before the beast could jump again, Bors slashed at the rope between him and the monster. Immediately, all the platforms around it tilted inward, and the bear had to act fast. The beast jumped out at Bors, but Bors was on the move already. He underestimated his jump, anyway, and was sent to a platform right at the edge. The beast took a while to regain its balance.

The armadillo turned and slashed at the rope he traveled across. It shook the whole structure, again. It took a second or two for him to regain his balance, but he did.

"Come on Bors!" He heard cheering from the top of the cliff. He was glad when he looked up and saw Galahad there, cheering him on. Though he was annoyed he wasn't throwing rocks at the monster or such.

Regardless, Bors pushed on, moving to the platform on his left. He looked over at the behemoth bear to see it slowly getting back up. He had to act fast. When he got to the next platform, one right next to the one he was almost crushed on moments ago, he slashed at the rope between the platform he was on and the platform he is on. This caused the platform he had just left to swing underneath the whole bridge-like battlefield.

This further tilted the platform he was on, but it did what he wanted it to do, and that was disable the center platform.

He rushed on in the direction he was headed, and turned right once more. This next platform was almost on its side, but he kept going. He heard a terrible roar to his right, and turned to see the monster jumping over the gap between them to reach Bors.

Bors made no hesitation to keep on running. When the beast landed, Bors had to kneel down to sustain himself. Once he was sure he could, he turned around and slashed the rope behind him. He saw the beast quiver as the platform had a sudden change in gravity. Bors smiled to see his plan working out well. He ran off across another rope, ready to kill this beast.

* * *

Gawain slashed at the flaming wooden ball.

As he did, it opened, spilling the insides of it to the air, the open flames, and Gawain's visor. It was black powder. It was ignited by the fire the wooden ball was covered with. There was a sudden flash of fire, which really disoriented the knight. During the disorientation, Degroot hopped around from platform to platform, materializing more of these balls filled with gunpowder.

"WUAHAHAhahaha!" Degroot laughed in a very suddenly high pitched maniacal way. The duck wasted no time in lighting the makeshift grenades on fire and tossing more at Gawain.

Gawain, still stumbling from the shock the flash of fire gave him, thought it wasn't a good idea to regain his balance and get hit by the wooden balls that explode, and simply fell backward into the water pool.

Degroot certainly did not like his strategy. "Oh, you're no fun!" He pouted as he snapped his fingers. On cue, a couple of underworld minions poofed into the room with a cloud of smoke. They were on opposite sides of the room, both loaded with barrels, undoubtedly filled with black powder. They grabbed a couple torches from the walls, blew the torch onto a barrel, setting it on fire, and they picked it up.

"Ugh!" Gawain groaned, making his way to the back end of the room. "Galehaut, get the duck!"

"AFFIRMATIVE." Galehaut obeyed as he turned to Degroot, smiling as always. "ARE THOU PREPARED TO BE SLAIN?"

"Oh, cut the fancy-schmancy talk!" Degroot shouted. "Who talks like that anyway? _'YOU' ROLLS OFF THE TONGUE BETTER!_"

The duck lit another ball on fire, and threw it at Galehaut. Due to his lack of mobility, he couldn't dodge. But, due to his incredibly heavy armor, he withstood the blast. Unlike the blast that got him down into this chamber, it was not enough to tip him over.

Gawain reached the side of the chamber, and a couple underworld knights went to greet him, and hopefully stick a sword through his face. Gawain turned to look at his companion, unable to catch up to the duck that was now bouncing around the platforms in the water relentlessly pegging Galehaut with the wooden balls as if they were snowballs.

Gawain hatched an idea. The moment he did, the barrels the beings had thrown into the water suddenly exploded, sending charred wood chunks flying across the room. Gawain jumped in fear, but made a mental note: _twenty two seconds._ One of the charred chunks flew through the gap the visor of one of the demons Gawain was fighting. It screamed in an low pitch voice, and stumbled around. Unnerved by this, the second one marched on. One of the barrels had went off right next to Galehaut, sending him stumbling sideways. He was able to jump to the platform off to the side of him and stabilize himself there.

Gawain turned his attention back to the underworld being, which was feet away from him. He lunged at him with his axes, and chopped the first one to pieces quickly. Wanting to play around with the next one, still blinded, he put his axes away, reared his fist, and began to run at him. He jumped, punched, and the enemy went soaring across the room and into a wall.

Now it was time for his plan. Gawain took the torch they had dropped, and lit a barrel on fire. He hoisted the barrel over his head, and hopped onto the platforms. _Twenty_, Gawain thought.

"Galehaut, go get one of those barrels!" He ordered Galehaut.

"AFFIRMATIVE." Galehaut replied. "RETREATING..." _Fifteen._

Degroot giggled as he materialized more of his playthings as Galehaut hopped back. "Ooooh, what does the big guy have in his head now?" _Ten._

Galehaut had gotten to the sidelines, and had picked up a barrel. He began to observe Gawain, to get his strategy without asking him to blurt it out to their unpredictable enemy.

And unpredictable he was. Degroot lit the ball and jumped over Gawain. _Five._

When he landed, he began spinning around and slowly came to a stop at Galehaut, with the ball reared back, ready to throw. _Two._

Gawain threw the barrel in front of Degroot, and used the momentum from the throw to dive underwater. Not suspecting the barrel to be thrown in front of him, the ball smashed against the crate, breaking the wood casing.

_**BOOM**_

The duck flew to the other side of the room, slamming into the wall. Although neither Gawain or Galehaut saw it, Degroot's face flashed with pain and he held back a painful groan.

Gawain, putting his arms down after successfully shielding his face from wooden pieces, smiled as he climbed back onto a platform. He couldn't get within melee range of this crazy combatant? He'll just have to blow him up with his own trap, then.

* * *

...her legs shaking, her eyes wide, and lips quivering. -_Woah, I suddenly feel bad for her... ~It's like a train, and all it's cars are filled with steel, that she'd stop if she knew how...~_- She began to muster what seemed to be the harshest looking incantation she knew, at least to Sonic. Others thought the same.

"OH SHIT, HERE IT COMES!" One of those up front shouted.

"Slay the heathen!" Percival shouted, with fire in her eyes.

-_~And she will stand there with her shoulders square and tall...~_-

Magicians and wizards of the White Death began casting spells. "Magic missile!" "Fire bolt!" "WATER BLITZ!" "_I CAST FIST!_" "Earth strike!" "Air wave!"

-_~...when the whistle blows, not falter...~_-

* * *

Degroot jumped to his feet. He was impressed at how they attacked him, with using his own weaponry. Sounds like something he would do. He liked that. Almost enough to stop fighting and shake their hands. But that would mean no more attempting to blow them up. And he liked blowing stuff up, more than other people blowing stuff up. It didn't even matter what was being blown up in the case. It could be boxes, barrels, people, himself. Whatever it was, he liked blowing them up more than he likes anyone else doing so.

Degroot saw Galehaut light a barrel on fire. He raised his eyebrows in interest.

"Hey, I'm actually happy someone is good enough to use my own stuff against me." Degroot complimented. "Gives me a challenge. Last hundred or so people I fought just didn't care about my weapons after they hit the ground."

Gawain did not respond, he ran back to the barrel depot. Galehaut came back out with another barrel set afire lifted over his head. Degroot wasn't happy. "Aw, you guys are too scared to get close and use your swords? Fine, I'll guess I'll have to do something about that!"

The duck materialized another ball and set it lit it. He then charged at Galehaut, ready to smash it into his face. As he was charging, Gawain threw a barrel at Degroot. He flew off to the side and into the water. He quickly swam back ashore, and smashed his now dud weapon on the ground in aggravation. He created another, and at the same moment, Galehaut threw his barrel at Degroot.

Degroot was about to dodge, but he realized that behind him was the entire supply of gunpowder. If he dodged, it would set the rest of the room off, too. Not that Degroot would not like such a thing. The fact that they were doing it was bad. So instead of dodging, he grabbed it and threw it back. It exploded mid air.

Gawain was tired of how tedious this was getting. "Gah, you know what...! Galehaut, get into the tunnel!"

With that, Gawain turned away from Degroot.

"FORGET YOU! I'M OUT OF HERE!" Gawain shouted as he threw the barrel at the supply against the wall, and began hopping from platform to platform toward the exit with Galehaut.

"... That MAY be a problem." Degroot said flatly. "I'll just stand in the middle of the room an-"

A portal opened in the middle of the room.

"Here's some more of that black powder, Degroot!" An undead dwarf said, walking out of the portal hoisting two barrels on each shoulder, followed by three more doing the same. "Man, do you know how easy this stuff is to mine? Just slap it with a pick, and bam, boom dust. Hey, Degroot, you're looking a bit light headed. Something wrong?"

"FFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUU-"

No onomatopoeia could not describe the sound Gawain heard as the barrel went off. It left Gawain's ears ringing. He felt bits of wood bounce off his armor, and the wind push him against the back wall he was huddling against. When he felt ready to go, in a minute or so after the blast, he got up, and walked back into the room with Galehaut behind him.

All the torches went out. The only light was coming from the shrine, and the ladder to there was blown off. It was silent. There were no sounds of life in the room besides himself and Galehaut.

"THAT WAS RIVETING." Galehaut proclaimed.

Gawain took his helmet off and wiped his brow. "I'll say..." His gaze was attracted by light of the shrine coming in through the trap door. "I'll throw you up there, and I'll climb up, alright?"

"UNDERSTOOD."

In a moment, Gawain stood in front of the shrine, smiling triumphantly as he held his two axes in hand.

"Here it is..." He said to himself as he plunged the sword into the stone.

The obelisk lit up from the sword's power. On it, red text was legible, in an ancient language. Gawain began to read it aloud. "When the sacred sword pierces stone, so shall return the power..."

"THIS APPEARS TO BE MORE THAN JUST BARRIER DEPLOYING." Galehaut pointed out.

"Yes, indeed. What of Excalibur, the greatest of all sacred swords? The King wore the Scabbard, but I never saw the sword itself..."

"PERHAPS IT APPEARS WHEN THE ALL OF THE SACRED SWORDS' POWER IS FULLY SUMMONED?"

"... What? No. One would think that would be too lengthy of a conventional ritual for a-"

"INTENTIONAL LOGICAL FALLACIES."

* * *

Lamorak got prepared to deflect another bolt as Saxton aimed toward him. Saxton was anxiously waiting for Lamorak's slow but steady approach. After a moment or two passed, neither had came, and Saxton was getting under tension.

Saxton raised the crossbow over his head and swung it downward, pulling the trigger halfway. The bolt flew out, curved toward the ground, and ricocheted upward at Lamorak. Surprised by this, Lamorak failed to dodge, and took the bolt to the leg.

He cried out, and keeled over, but he has felt worse. He had pulled it out by the time he heard footsteps approach him. He looked up and saw Saxton running at him with a curved knife raised over his head by his right hand, and the crossbow still gripped in his other. If Lamorak wanted to stop him, he'd have to act fast and make the right moves.

Lamorak tore the bolt out of his leg, and threw it at Saxton's neck. The bolt tore straight through it, as he expected. The hawk wasn't done. He withdrew Lancelot's sword and his bladed fan and ran at him and began slashing.

Saxton was slashed several times, as his flesh was now easy to cut because it was cooked from the fires he died from. After a fifth slash, Saxton managed to back pedal away. To ensure Lamorak didn't follow, he began firing bolt after bolt from his crossbow.

Lamorak deflected the first two off to the side, and kicked two more into the air. He jumped to avoid the last bolt. In the air, he spun around and kicked the first one just right.

The bolt soared through the air and pierced the back of Saxton's upper neck, heading through his mouth and nose. The force the bolt had carried had shaken the fleeing weasel, and made him stumble.

And then Lamorak kicked the next one toward Saxton.

The bolt landed in the back of the skull. It did not have the power or speed of the previous kicks, due to the leg that kicked it being the wounded one. Regardless, the bolt had knocked Saxton onto the ground.

"Hah, fucker." Lamorak gloated as he walked over to the weasel. "Thinking you're so good, well, here's something for your e-"

Saxton's body exploded into a cloud of smoke. When the smoke dissipated, he was gone.

"... Oh. Well, he was pretty good actually." Lamorak began talking to himself. "First one to get me like that in _years_. It's probably because he doesn't know pain as much now, and he didn't _die when he should have_."

"Anyway..." Lamorak said as he turned to the altar.

He walked toward the barrier stone with Lancelot's sacred sword in hand. He looked down at it and sighed. "For you, my friend..."

Lamorak then plunged the sword into the barrier stone. Words in an ancient language glowed into visibility on the stone. "This stone is but a part of the barrier that sealeth the Dark Hollow..."

Lamorak thought of that line for a moment. "Hmm... Dark Hollow? What is Merlina up to now?"

Continuing to think of the topic, Lamorak turned away from the stone, and dashed through the fire to get back to the meeting point.

* * *

Bors jumped diagonally toward a more stable platform against the rock wall. It wasn't rickety like all the other ones, and for this he felt relieved that he had stable ground to stand on. Bors readjusted his grip on the sword he had in his hand, and turned around, ready to wound the giant bear.

Said giant bear was en route to his position via the air.

"FU-"

Bors was slammed to the bottom of the platform when the bear landed on him. Bors attacked first, even though he was very startled by the pounce. He stabbed the bear right where the chest begins to seperate.

The bear roared in pain, and Bors used this to his advantage. He swung his feet to his right, over the edge of the platform, and pulled. He was pulled off the edge of the platform, and he grasped the rope as he slid out. He swung himself onto the next platform, and began to run.

While running, he saw something move in the corner of his eye. He turned his head to see Galahad kicking down a rope ladder. It was on a corner platform, on the side he was heading to. It was his salvation. He couldn't just go climbing it, however. He had to dispose of the beast following him.

When he reached the corner, he heard the monster jump. He immediately turned and began to jump from platform to platform toward the ladder.

As Galahad was finished with the ladder, he heard loud footsteps behind him. He turned and saw two onyx golems approaching.

Bors was just one platform away from reaching the corner piece, when two golems fell down and smashed out the two pieces next to it. The power and speed it was done with shook the whole entire structure yet again, bringing Bors onto his knees. He couldn't wait any longer. He jumped to the last platform, grabbed onto the rope with his free hand, and slashed both the ropes that connected it to every other platform.

As a result, almost half of the structure gave way.

Bors clenched the rope as he heard the roar of the mighty bear behind him. In a moment, he looked down, and saw the monster below him, falling into the pit of lava.

"Yes!" Bors shouted in relief, as he sheathed his sword. "Thank you!"

Galahad was just as satisfied. "Not a problem at all, Bors!"

The armadillo was panting heavily. "Go ahead and place the sword at the barrier stone, Sir Galahad, I'm going to take a while to catch my breath..."

Understanding his comrade, Galahad walked to the obelisk with Percival's rapier in hand. He stabbed the altar with it, and like the other barrier stones, an ancient language appeared. Galahad was a fairly new knight, and couldn't read it.

"Hey, Bors, what's this?" Galahad asked aloud.

Bors was pulling himself over the rock side at the moment. "What's what say?"

"The shrine. It has a language on it, I can't read it."

Slowly standing up, Bors answered. "Let me take a look at it."

Bors walked up to the shrine beside Galahad, and looked at the old language that was written on the front of the stone.

"Well, you see, that says..." Bors dragged on. "... The hell _does_ it say? Wha-_oh!_ Someone must have written over it somehow! I can recognize some _other_ language written over this! But I can't place my finger on it..."

"Doesn't look like French or German." Galahad said, pointing out it didn't. "It has weird letters."

"Hmm," Bors mumbled. It finally came to him. "Ah, yes! Northmen! Northmen vandalized this structure. Can't make anything out of it, though."

"Northmen?" Galahad asked.

"Yes.

"The ship sailing ones?

"Indeed."

"In the middle of a sea of lava?"

"Look, I don't write reality, I explain it. That said... What the _fuck_?"

* * *

Rachel threw her arms forward, blasting a huge ball of dark energy at the massive group.

Those who didn't dodge it were stunned, petrified, and slowly, their whole bodies began to turn purple. However, the priests, paladins, and others carrying blessed items began using their own spells to counter these. Before anything noticeably harmful happened to them, the purple began to fade away from a holy glow that surrounded the priests, and they could move once more.

Rachel did not have the assistance of a priest, doctor, or others to take her place. She was going to withstand all of their attacks. And, at the moment she felt like screaming in fear, she saw many familiar objects appear from the hands of the crowds as the spellcasters and archers readied their attacks.

They were rifles.

_-~...But when the crash comes, she will fall.~_-

**PAKA-KAKAKA-K-K-K-K-K-_AAaoowwww..._**

-_~With so much steam and steel behind it, she won't slow it down at all...~_-

She was riddled with attack after attack. Arrows, bullets, throwing knives, spells of all four basic elements and fist, she was hit with it all. Her clothes were torn by the bullets and arrows, and was brushed aside by the impact of the spells. The person underneath the magician robes she wore was ground into a light paste by the seventy-three attacks separate headed her way. The sheer amount of force from all of these attacks hitting her within the two or three seconds it lasted, which was enough to stop the G.U.N. truck that was chasing Sonic down the steep hills of Station Square, had sent her flying through the massive doorway and onto the hard gravel road in front of the city's gates. The place she was standing a moment ago was occupied by nothing but a fine red mist of blood. -_THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DON'T HAVE RINGS._-

"Oh God..." Sonic gasped underneath the roaring cheers of the mob. He had never seen a person transform from a living being to the equivalent of tomato sauce before, at least not in real life. His ego felt shrunk, and he became unsettled by how powerful this mob was. How quickly and easily it could kill anything in its path. He felt uncomfortable knowing that if he got on the wrong side of the mob, he can be turned into fertilizer. "... Oh God."

Not bothered by this at all, White Death cheered as they stampeded over the underworld knights that stood where Rachel was. They did not even waste time standing over them, attacking them. They just sent two men to attack Rachel's minions, they would force themselves on top and the mob would push them down, not bothering to deal any finishing blows or such to the underworld knights. They had better things to do.

As they marched out of the city, Sonic looked at the gory mess of a cat named Rachel that was there, lying on the gravel road. He was the fastest, of course, so he ran up to it to look at it so he didn't make the mob wait for someone who could catch up to them in seconds, no matter the distance.

Rachel was dead, for sure. The whole front side of her body was torn open, and spewing out. Whole limbs were torn away, and as a matter of fact, a second of viewing the corpse, the arm landed several feet away from the owner. -_...There goes the arm._- He could see the balls of dirt and balls of lead lying on top of the torn organ tissue. Toward her waist, he could see a green spiky object stuck in the crisscrossing pile of bodily fluids.

-_... CACTUS._-

It had only occurred to him now that the attacks had torn her clothes off. -_... dot dot dot..._- Not that he could recognize anything other than the cactus and other manually injected items. She was torn to shreds, through and through.

"Sonic! Pay attention!" Caliburn shouted.

"Sonic! Come on!" He heard a voice call out.

Sonic looked up to see Percival waiting a few feet ahead of him, with the mob charging off.

"Alright alright," Sonic stammered, while running back to rejoin White Death. "I just have never seen someone turn into tomato soup before."

"You're not the only one, but you're the only one who cares so much about it." Percival noted, catching up.

"WELL _KILLING ISN'T MY BUSINESS!_" Sonic shouted back. "_...~wo-and business is good...~_"


	27. Give Us the Rope

Sadly, this might be my last weekly update. Because procrastination. I'd worked a good amount of the weekend on this story, and I'll work a good amount next weekend, trying to get ahead of the game (like I have been for the whole story, I was working on at chap 14 when I started), and finish. Anyway, I need to _**GET ON WITH IT**_.

**CHAPTER 26: GIVE US THE ROPE**

Gawain, Galehaut, Galahad, Bors, and Lamorak waited at the spot they had separated at. They had been waiting for Sonic, Percival, and any resistance fighters they could conjure up for a few minutes now. Feeling bored, Lamorak decided to start some small talk.

"Did anyone else here have to deal with a person from the underworld sent to ambush them at the shrine? Because I got that, and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one." Lamorak asked.

"Yeah, me and Galehaut had to fight a crazed duck." Gawain explained. "Degroot, his name was."

"Oh, you're lucky." Bors spoke up. "I had to deal with this _ginormous bear_ while fighting on top of platforms held together by ropes over lava. It's hard to explain in short, you should have seen it."

"I got some crispy weasel with a repeating crossbow and a bad attitude." Lamorak groaned. "And the guy was pretty good, too. Got my leg, and he still fought with a hole in his neck."

"You should really have that healed, Lamorak." Galahad said, worried. "Fighting while wounded doesn't usually end well."

"I understand your worry, Galahad, but it's fine. I've had worse wounds and I have fought with the same expertise as I normally do with worse wounds, and..." Lamorak stopped to listen. "...what is that trembling?"

Suddenly, Sonic dashed out from the road and in front of the knights. He seemed very energetic.

"We got our freedom fighters, let's go!" Sonic announced with a big grin on his face.

Percival was quick to follow. The trembling could be heard much more clearly now.

"C'mon c'mon c'mon!" Sonic said quickly as he marched over to the ground just ahead of the road. "Let's break down the tunnel doors, men!"

The crowd cheered as they ran into vision of the knights. The massive blob of warriors huddling together followed Sonic, with weapons held high into the air. The variety of weapons and sheer number of fighters surprised them.

"Good lord!" Gawain gasped.

"THIS SHOULD PROVE TO BE AN EFFICIENT AMOUNT." Galehaut pointed out.

Galahad began to run to catch up with the mob. "I'll say, come on!"

The knights of the Round Table rejoined Sonic and Percival in the front of the monstrous mob as they opened the doors.

On the other side of the door, there was a row of underworld knights ready to take their lives. They were merely trampled over. The crowd cheered more over this fact. It was another example of how powerful they were.

They slaughtered, arrowed, and shot their way over to the waterway. There, they loaded several onto a boat and sailed off, volleying magic and arrows at whatever dared show their faces to the crowd. Sonic invited his knights and Gerald over to his boat. After everyone had boarded, they shipped off, in the center of the massive war machine.

"How did you organize this? You were gone a few minutes more than we were!" Gawain spoke with excitement.

Sonic laughed. "I didn't. Gerald here did."

"Ah, yes," Gerald humbly said. "The city was not going to be taken prisoners by the darkness again. We were captured once before, but nevermore now."

"And nevermore it shall be! Look at this!" Lamorak proclaimed, looking out toward the small armada of punts. "This is picture perfect."

-_It was. The torches had a nice effect on the water, and the wizards who used diverse and colofrul spells really add to the beauty of it. I never thought I'd be saying actual combat is beautiful, but hell, this is a painting turned into life. I'd put this on my wall, and holy shit my wall is more crowded than Time Square on New Years. I actually had to put stuff on the ceiling._-

"You really live for war, don't you Lamorak?" Bors brought up.

"Oh, I love to fight, so long as there's a good reason for it, but I'm no barbarian." Lamorak began. "I just find beauty in the hearts of soldiers. Those with the will to fight, whether for what they think is right, for others, or for any other reason, all have a tale to tell. A tale I'd love to just sit down and listen to, so I can understand them what they're fighting for."

"Woah, deep." Sonic commented.

Lamorak chuckled. "And you know what's the best part? When they ask ME to tell them MY tale, I'll start out with 'it all started _when I was born_!'"

"Very eye opening." Gerald said plainly.

"Sonic..." Percival mumbled.

Sonic drew his attention from the scene. "Hm?"

"When can I go free?" She asked, a bit shaky in her voice.

Sonic leaned back and thought for a moment before answering. -_I want to turn this into a game. Play __with her mind a little, finish up my renegade spree with a bang... Oh, I know._- "Oh, you've done a lot already. Plenty. I just need you to help pave the way to Merlina. Get two hundred fifty kills in the next thirty minutes, and I'll let you go free."

The knights' faces changed to show their concern.

"In the next thirty minutes?" Percival repeated in shock.

"Starting as soon as you hop off this boat." Sonic explained. "Don't kill Merlina. She's in power at my fault. I'll finish her."

"Yes, Sonic." the enslaved knight said with a sigh.

"Turning her life into _a game_, now are we?" Caliburn criticized.

"Hey, you're the one who appointed me king. Next time, think twice before I go on. And besides, i-"

"Damn!" One of the men on the boats shouted as he missed a shot. The scream attracted Sonic's attention. "Out of shots!"

Sonic was slowly turning back to face Caliburn, until he realized he had some left over ammunition from when he tossed the rifle into the lava back when he dueled Percival. He smiled as he turned back to the man on the boat. "Hey, trade ya!"

"WHAT!" Everyone on the boat shouted. The munition-less warrior turned to Sonic, who was taking the bow off from his shoulder. Sonic threw the bow at the man, who caught it. Reluctantly, the man tossed Sonic the rifle, and Sonic threw the quiver over to the man.

"Thank you!" He said, before returning to attacking monsters on the side of the waterway.

Sonic turned back around, and began to load rounds into the rifle. He had a special round that he had created specifically for Merlina, the one with a purple gem bullet, but now that he doesn't want another gory death like Lancelot and Rachel faced, he'd use it on monsters. He looked up to see the whole boat staring at him, mouths agape.

"What?" Sonic asked.

Suddenly, the small armada stopped beside small landing point. This way led to the path leading to the castle. Realizing this, Sonic lifted his feet, swung around, and began to run before anyone else.

"It's just a little healthy competition!" Sonic joked as he ran ahead of the entire brigade of men. -_This should be the last asshole thing I do in the experiment, and oh BOY, is it terrible._-

As Sonic raced out onto the large floating path, he could hear the mob cheering behind him. In front of him, the path was completely covered with enemies. Goblins, Zombies, dimented ones, Beholders, and such. There was no room for them to move. No room for them to dodge, or evade. Only march, and die.

"Sonic, are you thinking what I think you're thinking...?" Caliburn demanded. And yes he was. He was going to slaughter them. He was going to kill dozens and dozens of them. But he'd do it slow, giving her a chance to watch as her chances begin to get smaller, so that she gets a few.

And then he goes faster.

And then she does. -_Repeat ad infinium. She's gonna be PISSED, but that's the point. 'Sides, I'll let her win, if only by a few dozen enemies at least._-

And so when Sonic came to the first row of enemies, he could hear Percival rushing over at her top speed. But Sonic was a faster person. Sonic slashed the first six rows of enemies before Percival slammed into one, stabbing it in the chest, with her sword coming out the other side and stabbing the one behind it. The force sent them pushing against the rows behind them.

Percival withdrew her sword from the underworld knights, and began to slaughter the lesser enemies behind them. The crowd behind them raced forward, raining arrows over the two competing knights' heads as they slaughtered the defenses row by row. Underworld knights, goblins, demons, unfortunate souls, and many more, thrown off the ledge or slashed to bits. Although she was killing a good amount of them, Sonic had taken the lead and began smashing everything in his way.

From the sea of enemies, a Beholder had spawned. It raised its tentacles, prepared to fire off magic blasts at the rapidly advancing knights. Sure enough, arrows and such projectiles began flying it's way, but before anyone of them hit, Sonic had stopped, grabbed the rifle on his back and fired it with one hand at the monster. The giant eye winced in pain as the bullet caused part of the eye to crater around the wound, and it fell to the ground. Down the path, more giant enemies became noticable; minotaurs, dragons twice the size of a horse, cyclopes, all the same. The massive amount of minions had slowed the knights down considerably, allowing White Death to catch up.

White Death's rain of arrows and spells from above began to tear through the crowds of underworld beings in their way, offering a bubble of movement in front of them. Sonic and Percival used this to move in.

Speaking of which, Percival was outraged.

"Why?" She screamed at the speedy hedgheog. "Why are you doing this?"

"Indeed, why?" Caliburn pressured.

Sonic began to explain. "You do better when fighting for your life. You've probably killed so many diverse enemies, it doesn't phase you. So I'm putting a time limit on you. It's just one test."

"That's idiotic!"

Her anger unconsoled, she looked back at the falling crowds of creatures ahead of them. -_Maybe I shouldn't rant on trying to back up this already pretty sadistic game. You know, cheer her up or something before she throws me into the pitch black bottomless pit below the path in rage?_-

"But..." Sonic said, in a light and gentle tone. This sudden swing from the mad tone to a nice tone caught Percival's attention again. "It's not like you can't meet the number I set."

Sonic made some finger guns at Percival. "You're pretty good."

"What if I can't?" She said back.

Sonic chuckled. "I'll have to set it up again because you weren't actually trying. I know you're better than that." -_She went pretty neck and neck with me when we fought, and I'm basically a short furry version of Rambo, minus facial hair and muscles, so really she really has no excuse to fail._- "Where I come from, you and the other knights are legends."

Percival raised a brow from behind her visor."... Legends?"

Sonic continued to chuckle. "Yes. I can spoil the rest of your life, right here, and tell you the ending."

"... I'd rather not..." She replied, defying her curiosity. "At least not right now."

"Suit yourself. Anyway, we're closing on the gatehouse!"

"LET'S BASH THROUGH THE GATES!" Shouted one specially riled up member of the striking mob.

With all the force behind the eighty freedom fighters there, there was no portcullis that could stop them. No amount of rocks dropped through murder holes. They could have broke through the walls. They tore the front gate apart with a massive collection of swords. The second fell just as well.

"Pillage this bailey!" Sonic shouted an order to the giant mob. "Tear it all apart, and meet me outside the keep's gate!"

"Tear it all down, fellas!" One of the archers shouted as he stuck his arrow in front of a passing fire spell, lighting the arrow on fire, and then proceeded to fire the arrow into a building.

Sonic raced toward the keep's walls, smashing the dozens of diverse creatures in his way to get there. Percival went her own way. She had a score to beat.

Sonic had fought his way to the walls around the keep. He climbed the tallest building nearby to examine the damage his men were doing to the small encampment within the castle's outer walls.

The first thing he noticed was a smoke stack rising from one of the buildings. -_Bors did it, absolutely. Oh, now seems like an appropriate time to say, did you guys know that Mighty is a pacifist?_- He noticed the weapons colliding, sliding along each other. He heard them chant in unison like the angry mob they were.

"...Give us a grave! Give us a shovel! Give us a marker! GIVE US THE ROPE!"

Sonic smiled for a moment. All was going to plan. -_Okay, I think I can confirm this whole thing is kind of like a dream but sensible and about one topic. Gotta remember to write all this down._-

"Are you happy with what you're doing?" Caliburn asked.

"A little bit, Caliburn." Sonic said, with a satisfied sigh. "I think this is just the beginning of something, though. Something bigger."

"How big?"

"Horrifically."


	28. Well I Ain't Superstitious

I managed to get a good amount of stuff done, luckily. Oh, and I hear Rapture is today. You want to know what I think of it?

**CHAPTER 27: WELL, I AIN'T ****SUPERSTITIOUS**

-_~...NO SUCH THING A BAD LUCK. AND I AIN'T SUPERSTITIOUS, I COULDN'T REALLY GIVE A FUCK. GO TAKE YOUR SILLY SUPERSTITIOOOOONS, AND FIND SOME OTHER __**CHICKENSHIT**__, __**SISSY WORM**__ AND TELL IT TO HIM!~_-

Sonic sat on the roof of the building until his mob had gathered outside the inner wall's gate, eyes on him. The door was very heavily locked, with thick but short metal bars added to the top of the giant wooden doors to deny it from opening and closing, and the height removed possibility of getting at it.

"What now, Sir?" One of the mages shouted up. "Doors fortified, I bet we could smash it down, though. With ease!"

Sonic hopped down, from the roof, and landed on his feet. He began to answer while dusting himself off. "First of all, I know it's a compliment, but I'm not a sir. Second, I'm not entirely sure about that. Worth a shot, though!"

Light nodded, and let the mob work. "Alright! Heave!"

"HO!"

"Heave!"

"HO!"

"Heave!"

"HO."

The mob lost enthusiasm when the door would not seem to budge. Sonic rushed over to help them.

After a minute of no visible results, Sonic shouted over the crowd.

"Okay everyone, stand back, stand back!"

Slowly but surely, the mob backed away from the door to Sonic's wish. Sonic walked in front of the door.

"Before I work my magic on this thing..." Sonic began, facing the crowd. "...anyone else have a feeling that we moved?"

There was a bit of confusion among the mob. Sonic interpreted this answer as 'no'.

"Alright alright," Sonic said, turning to the door. He began to stretch, crack his bones, the like. When he was ready, he let out a small ahem.

He began to slam his fists on the wall.

"_I AM CAPTAIN GORDON FREEMAN OF THE INTERGALACTIC HOUSE OF PANCAKES AND I DEMAND YOU TO OPEN!_"

There was a moments silence. Just as Percival was about to say something along the lines of "Your name is Gordon?", everyone realized why Sonic thought they moved.

Sonic was currently in a small, shallow rut, dug out of the ground by the door when the men pushed it. The dirt on the other side piled up, but it couldn't tip until the door was pushed out of its stone frame. The slamming on the door was the hay that broke the camel's back, and the door fell, crushing the enemy or two on the other side.

"Well, I did not expect that to work." Sonic chuckled, beckoning White Death to follow as he stepped on top of the massive wooden door. "Stay calm, men. Instead of charging through hell's front door without a clue of what we're doing, I have a plan I'd like to put in use."

"And what may that be?" Caliburn asked. "It better not sound stupid."

"It will sound stupid, but, it should work better than charging in their all at once." Sonic said, taking out a large wooden pole.

"Fine then, just hit me with it."

Sonic took out a flag, a white flag with a blue and red circle in it. He began to attach it to the pole."I'll go in first. Alone. The rest of you wait two or three minutes, make them think I'm coming in alone, and then you all follow the trail of damage to where I am and get to me as soon as possible. Got it?"

Laughter came from the mob.

"What!" The knights and Caliburn shouted in unison. Sonic swore he saw something coming out of Percival's ears.

"You heard me. In three minutes, follow the trail of dead bodies." Sonic answered, sticking the pole behind the armor, getting it to stand up.

"You think you can go in there alone and last long enough?" Caliburn shouted. "You'll get us killed!"

"I don't care, I've cheated death a hundred times in my life! I can do it one more time!" Sonic argued.

The laughter turned into cheering.

Sonic continued to entertain the mob. "I play by my own rules! I do what I want! It was my power that gathered you all here today!"

"But what makes you think it's the best idea?" Percival questioned.

"It is absolutely _not_ the best idea." Sonic said. "But it's a good idea that can work and it's the one I want to do!"

Sonic turned to the large doorway. He was really going to do it.

"Surely you jest!" Percival shouted at him in disbelief, advancing behind him.

"I am no fool." Sonic replied as he turned around to look at her, slashing the doors' lock with Caliburn. He kicked it on the crack in the doorway, and both of the doors slowly opened. "...And my name is Sonic. Don't call me Shirley."

Without another word, he charged into the castle, his marker flag flickering in the air. Percival stared at him, not trusting his plan in the slightest.

"... We can't just let him run off like that." She said, turning back to her comrades.

"You're his slave, and orders are orders. Sorry, Percival, but there is not much you can do." Lamorak retorted.

"You don't get it. I did not wager me being a slave against him being mine," Percival explained. "I wagered my loyalty against his. And duel or no duel, he could die in a second, and we shouldn't sit and watch."

Bors stepped in. "But what if he has more of a plan than just that?"

"Plan? He thinks fast, but he doesn't think first. He's making it up as he goes along."

"How are you so sure?" Gawain asked.

Percival knew it was just a hunch, but regardless, she continued. "His plans change a lot, and he adjusts to them. When he wanted to charter a ship for us to get to Avalon, no one complied, hence why the ship was empty. When we fought the king, all the specifics he knew was that we were going to fight the king, and that he takes the kill. He thinks too general, and never specific."

"If he's good at thinking on his feet, then trust him." Galahad said.

"Don't take this the wrong way, no offense or anything, but I've had enough trust talk from _you_ of all people. I know what you're trying to do, and I appreciate it, but please, just stop." Percival spat.

The cat walked into the doorway, and turned around.

"I'M GOING IN THERE, WHO IS WITH ME?" Percival shouted.

None of the Knights of the Round Table spoke, and only Lamorak shifted.

But the massive roar of the crowd behind them is what Percival wanted to hear. White Death moved around the startled knights and charged into the castle, leaving the five men standing there.

"Smooth move, white knight." Lamorak remarked sarcastically. "You gonna find the Holy Grail and then bludgeon her with it next?"

"Shut up, will you?" Galahad groaned, feeling remorse for what he said.

"No, shut up ALL OF YOU!" Gawain shouted over his two bickering friends. "Even if going in and helping out is not what Sonic is considering, Merlina is fighting us with all of hell. Despite how skilled he may be, he might not win."

"SIR GAWAIN," began Galehaut. "YOU ARE SUGGESTING WE ARE TO FOLLOW PERCIVAL'S TRAIL?"

"And everyone elses'. Whether or not it works out alright, the main effect of a second wave is moot now that everyone else..." The red knight trailed off. Something caught his attention. Flying through the dark stormy clouds, a large figure with terrible wings could be seen. Remembering that Sonic had fought Gawain to get by, to fight a dragon, he did not find that welcoming in the slightest.

"... Knights, in the castle, now! Dragon, DRAGON!"

Lamorak turned in surprise, and, unbelievably, fear. "Oh MY GOD, A DRAGON." Within a moment, Lamorak was within the enormous doorway. "C'MON GUYS, FUCKING LEG IT!"

In instinct, they all followed him back inside the castle. No one was too fine about slaying a dragon summoned from the depths of hell. Especially since the undead was harder to slay than the living.

* * *

Sonic raced inward to the castle, with the flag mounted on his back. The massive hall was clear. He knew it wouldn't not be for long, however. Monsters will cover the floors in attempt to stop him, but they'll all fall as simply as the last hundred.

But then a ten by ten by ten grid of enemies formed.

Sonic's eyes widened, and his jaw dropped. If he was defending something, his legs would have began to shake. -_THAT'S A FUCKING CUBE OF A THOUSAND BAD GUYS. THEY'RE STANDING ON EACH OTHER'S SHOULDERS FOR CHRIST'S SAKE._- "... And the flying fuck spread its wings."

"Good lord there's hundreds of them!" Caliburn wailed.

Sonic stopped. He looked at the ludicrous formation of underworld knights, and he forced his jaw to drop even lower. -_They look like fucking cheer leaders._- Shaking his head, he grabbed his flag, and hurled it over them as if it were a javelin. Sonic then curled up into a ball.

Caliburn had never seen Sonic spindash before. "What are you-"

Sonic launched, flying toward the massive house of knights and smashed through a bottom row. This caused the entire formation to collapse on itself. He stopped himself, and turned to look at them all fall.

"Whoever thought of that only created a silly roadblock." Sonic chuckled. He began to run toward them. "Let me clean it up now."

The knights of the under world had managed to get ready for combat by the time Sonic got over. When Sonic charged into it, he felt dozens of swords glance off his armor, unable to penetrate it well enough. He slashed and slashed for a moment that felt like a few minutes. In this moment, he decimated at least half of the pile. He heard a massive roar come from the entrance. -_I am absolutely fine with them completely disregarding my plan now. I could use some help._- At that point, Sonic fought open a new hole in the cluster of enemies, toward the front, grabbed the flag, and ran around.

Caliburn was not pleased in the slightest.

"What have you done!" Caliburn asked. "What could you have possibly have done to have hundreds of hundreds of demons sent to kill you at once?"

Sonic was laughing. He was in a battle high. Adrenaline was rushing through his veins. He just knew that he had to get to the throne room, and annihilate anything in his way. He felt reckless. Automated. He didn't know what he was doing, but whatever it was, it was working. -Y_ou can't spell SLAUGHTER without LAUGHTER, or so they say._-

He raced down the hallway a little more, and he noticed something standing at the top of a stairway. Sonic was too out of it to identify, so Caliburn did the talking.

"It's the knight from before, Neon!" Caliburn exclaimed. "Quick, before he pulls out a trick, slay him!"

Nodding to the order, he raced toward the knight, paying extra detail to his form. He was shorter than Sonic, if so by a little bit. The armor completely covered the knight under it, the only distinguishing feature the purple glow that seemed to mark the eyes from behind the jet black visor. The sword he carried was purple, unlike his armor. The blades were just shorter than his arm length.

That was all he noticed before his attention was drawn to above. The topic on the hedgehog's mind changed from the man on the staircase to the even more falling enemies from above.

Sonic dashed to the other side of the falling battalion of underworld soldiers, and just before they all landed, he heard shouts from behind him. He stopped and listened.

"Wait up, wait up!" The voice cried and cried. -_Already planning that._-

"_Hello..._" said the Neon Knight. His voice had managed to stay in one tone, and was intelligible throughout the single low and smooth tone. "_Welcome to your doom!_"

"Hey, congrats! You can speak like a civilized person now! Even then you should hoarse. But enough talk. Step aside!" Sonic threatened. "Or I'll make you!"

"_Oh is thaaat soooo?_" Neon said, reaching behind his back. "_Well I got a surprise for you, hehe..._"

"Stay on your toes, Sonic." Caliburn whispered. "The army behind you is moving forward to attack our allies, but we have bigger problems to worry about."

Sonic nodded. He had to be ready for whatever kind of exploding balls, disintegration spells, or sick crossbow bolts that this guy had in mind with him.

Neon had smiled through his visor, also visible with a purple ghastly glow from through the visor. Sonic noticed it stretched from eat to ear. It then pulled out the object it had hiding behind it's back.

It was a Mosin Nagant.

_PAK-KOOHHHH..._

Everything froze, except for Gawain. He ducked, covering his head. The enemies had stopped swinging, and looked around them. The knights did the same, although they could not see over the enemies, but they could see the flag Sonic said he'd use to mark where he was when we came in, waving slightly, and a broken blade flying through the air. In the sudden silence, was only a grim laugh hovering over the massive crowd of warriors.

Then came the scream. It broke his laugh. It broke the silence. It shattered the moment's peace that had been acquired and tore the remains of it to shreds, in one single war cry.

-_*BANG BANG BANG* NO ONE MOVE AN INCH, I'M TAKING THIS EM-EFFER OVER._-

* * *

"YOU'LL TAKE MY LIFE, BUT _I'LL TAKE YOURS TOO!_ YOU'LL FIRE YOUR MUSKET BUT _I'LL RUN YOU THROUGH! _SO WHEN YOU'RE WAITING FOR THE NEXT ATTACK, YOU BETTER _STAND_, THERE'S NO TURNING BACK!"

I threw the shattered half of Caliburn I was holding down at the ground, swung my shield in front of my face and start sprinting toward him, "The Trooper" by Iron Maiden blasting in my head as the flag I had on my back flapped around loudly. He wasn't too experienced with working the bolt yet. I correctly guessed when he was going to pull the trigger and I swung my shield to my left, making the bullet bounce off to my side and hit a underworld knight, which I could tell from the audible _plunk_ it made.

I got up to the top before he could finish working with the bolt again, and I smashed him with my shield. He flew a good twenty feet before landing, messing up his bolt working in the process.

While he was grounded, I charged at him, screaming, shield front and center, barely seeing his dark armor through the onyx visor on my shield. He was working the bolt again, and he fired, but my shield tanked the shot, and the sound was drowned out by all the rage, adrenaline, and eighties metal rushing through my head. At this point I thought I was forgetting something, but shook it away from it. Whatever it was, I'm sure it can wait. This guy here is priority number one.

As soon as I saw him release the cartridge while trying to stand up, I sprinted again. I reared back my right arm, ready to strike with the hidden blade I had. When I was ten feet away, he tossed aside the rifle and took out his two sided sword. It wasn't at all useful though, I smashed him back to the wall with my shield, and left a spot open for my attack. I got him in his side with the blade, and I heard a grunt. It was a mixture of the high pitched voice and deep one again. I didn't care. I backed up from the wall, allowing him to advance with the double bladed sword once more, and I slammed him to the wall once more. I performed the same stab again, but this time, I swung around and roundhouse kicked him off to the side, into a corner formed by the wall and a pillar. His weapon flew from his hands. If I should get it, it's over, I win. I dashed over, grabbed the sword, and ran at the wounded enemy, who was struggling to move out of the way, and I dragged one side along the floor before slashing him across his armored chest with his own weapon. He flopped onto his back and skidded across the stone floor into a stand with display armor mounted it. The stand fell over onto him.

I began to walk over to the body, pretty sure the person had died, and I heard cries of pain coming from it. The higher pitched tone had control over speaking now, I guessed. Whatever, just going to demask him and fend off the relentless swarm of underworld minions that I had just remembered about.

I was a dozen feet from the wall when I heard enemies spawn above me. I gasped quickly and raised my shield to the ceiling, to see...

The ceiling.

At that point I heard several plop noises. I looked around to investigate.

And I saw several giant slime entities about twice the size of a Crabmeat for example, surrounding me very tightly, with no way to simply walk out, with huge steel shields for faces, with spears coming out of them. Coming my way up the stairway, about a hundred enemies of various kinds.

"Well shit." I said, quickly thinking about my options. If I jump out, the hundreds of enemies will swarm the path I choose to run in. If I stay in, the shield things would hold off the swarm of enemies long enough to prepare myself to start playing the world's deadliest game of hop scotch with the enemy's heads.

Right then, a giant minotaur had materialized in the air and landed on the path on the other side of the staircase, and began to charge over.

Before I could plan any more, a slime monster attacked me, lunging its spear out at me from behind. It startled me, but before any other attacks could be done I used the momentum to form a small jump, doing a front flip over the slime balls and began to run toward the railing, thinking I could jump off. It just so happened that those minotaurs were fast and had no care in the world for their allies, and started kicking them at me. I got knocked to the ground, and immediately, I shoved my sword into the enemy who had been sent toward me. Then, I quickly rolled back up and readied my shield. Dozens of enemies pushed against each other against my shield, and, still trying to regain my senses that had been rustled by the flying zombie that had been kicked my way.

When I was ready to fight once more, I shoved my shield and began slashing my sword wildly at them. They fell a couple at a time. There were more there.

I had to back track as they advanced. It was a good thing I did, too, as I noticed that there was a good amount of blood on the floor. Probably from me. But another thing is that when you get hit once, you get adrenaline. An energy booster and a painkiller. My painkiller.

So, I with this new found energy and berserk-ness, I charged them. I brought down a good amount, and I checked the progress White Death was making on the plethora of enemies still downstairs. There was a good amount still alive, only a couple of the mob were wounded, but the priests should be able to do something about it.

THE PRIESTS. Doctors, medics, healers, and most importantly in this current situation, HELP. I knew I had to get over there, this plan was really stretching my ego, and right now it's really teabagging it.

I ran at the ledge, ready to jump off it and get onto the ground floor.

I had forgotten about the giant minotaur.

He picked me up as I was about to leap over the ledge. My arms we free from its grasp. I looked at it as it looked at me. While it was glaring at me, I checked if my wrist gun was loaded. It was.

Obligatory _**BANG**_.

His eye erupted. He began to stumble back, and threw me behind him, over the crowd of minions toward a doorway. I landed decently, not on my face, skidded to a halt in a sitting position right at a small door. Hopefully a bedroom or something. Seeing as I was given the chance, maybe I should hold up in there until they come along and help me out. I hop to my feet and open the door.

On the other side was a massive room with another one of those slime things but twenty times larger, covered with other slime things.

I swung my head as I talked. "Nope." I slammed the door shut as I saw a ginormous spear start flying out of it. I dodged to my left and the spear tore straight through the door. Seeing the enemies draw closer, I raised the double saber once more and began to attack.

"_~I'M GOING DOOOOOWN IN A BLAZE OF GLORY!~_" I shouted as I attacked them while I was on my back.

But this time they weren't mindlessly letting the strong guys in back push against everyone else. Every single one of them charged toward me, and wouldn't stop. I fell to the ground, my shield raised, blocking their attacks. I laid there, stabbing and kicking enemies out of the densely compact sandwich of knights, zombies, and whatever the hell else was in there. I was stabbed a couple times, primarily the leg.

Finally, after being on my back for what felt like two minutes, kicking, screaming, blocking, and getting hit, I heard the blood curdling scream of the giant minotaur, and the clatter of footsteps from the stairs. Metal sabatons and boots slamming against the ground. I guess they heard me shout and began to really drive through the enemies.

Then, an enemy magician made everyone back away from me, and he raised his wand. Whatever spell it was, did not look healthy in the slightest. I swung my shield in the way, put my feet up against the shield, put my arm up to it to help keep a good balanced defense, and braced for the worst.

-_Okay, I'm done here, for now._-

* * *

The sheer density of the mob often left people with no choice but to go to the back. Percival and Bors were two of the unfortunate fighters. As White Death charged to the top of the staircase and sprinted full speed toward the now small bundle of underworld minions, Percival took the time to conserve energy by walking, as she was sure to have passed her required kill number by now, and the massive crowd could easily take on the small pack of enemies.

When she reached the top of the staircase, she looked around. She saw the Neon Knight beside a toppled over showcase set of armor, a slowly dying minotaur with two thirds of its body scorched, bruised, and had arrows sticking out of it, and a scarf on the ground.

Getting her priorities straight, she went to check the Neon Knight. As she drew closer, he backed into the corner, bleeding from his side and front. It had only occurred to her now that the knight was fairly short.

"Bors." She called out, slightly exhausted. "Get over here."

The armadillo walked over there, with a flail in hand. "What is it, Percival?"

"Look at this. This knight can't be older than we." She began.

Bors examined his size. "Hmm... It seems so. What do y-"

"What do you _WANT?_"

The tone had shocked the two. It was a completely eligible sentence formed with one tone of voice, that came from the Neon Knight. They had only known the gibberish he spoke.

"You can talk?" Bors interrogated quickly.

"Not for long. Little boy blue messed us up, but he'll come back."

Percival stepped in. "Who is 'us'?"

The knight removed his helmet, and threw it at her in anger. Underneath was a gray fox with a hint of yellow in it. Crystals were where the ruffs of furr would be on a normal person.

Dark colors. Deep raspy voice. Crystalline features.

Percival let out a quick gasp. She quickly turned around and began to run. "Bors, stay here, I'll get a priest!"

"What?" Bors asked, confused, looking back and forth between the fox and his friend.

"I'M POSSESSED YOU IDIOT!" Neon shouted at Bors.

"... Oh."

The fox groaned. "Name's Leon, the demon doesn't have a name, he told me."

"Alright, now why'd you join Merlina?"

"I don't want to answer your stupid questions when I'm wounded, alright! At least wait for the exorcist."

"Fine, fine."

* * *

As Percival was jogging, she took notice to the scarf. She noticed it was the one Sonic had mysteriously acquired before killing Arthur. It was slightly torn. She bent over to pick it up, when she overheard commotion.

"WHERE'D HE GO? He's not there!"

Her head shot in the direction, and she went on to making her way over there.

"No body, no ashes, no scorch marks, no blood trails, nothing." A huntress pointed out.

"Maybe he made it out?" A thief brought up. "He's pretty fast and agile, even with all that armor."

"Hmm..." The huntress said, walking toward the hallway that she thought Sonic would have ran off to if he did escape. "... No foot trails from over here. Any magicians with possibilities on what just happened?"

"Could have been warped off somewhere." A wizard theorized on command. "Doubt they would do that to a high profile man such as himself, though. Wasn't a levitation spell to throw him down the hallway, we would have saw it for sure... all spells that I know that disintegrate a body leave at least one sign of such, fire spells being ashes and scorch marks, darkness spells turning them into small flakes... No idea."

"Waitasecond." A fast talking archer asked. "If he got this far, through all those enemies we spent three minutes on, as compared to just walking in spraying arrows over the place, all by himself..."

"Are you going anywhere with this?" The Muscle Wizard asked.

"If he got here much faster than we could, much more than the thirty second delay we had, through all of those enemies... do you know how incredible this guy is? A thousand enemies, he tears straight through."

There was a silence.

"And we just might have lost him."

White Death collectively became berserk. Gerald took control of the massive mob, fueling them with more hate and energy, but instead of letting them run berserk, he's getting them focused, making them contain their anger and use it as a power source. Percival picked a priest out of the crowd and pulled him out.

"Go over to Sir Bors and the fallen knight over there, the boy needs an exorcist." She informed.

The priest jumped at the last word. "Oh! Just a boy, possessed? I need to get over there, then!" He ran off, his robes slowing him down a bit.

Feeling... disappointed, she decided after debating on what to describe her emotion with, with Sonic's disappearance, Percival looked down at the scarf. She blankly blinked at it torn yellow cloth.

* * *

Just a little author note, I REALLY wanted to make the middle part it's own separate chapter that you can select from the drop menu, but that would mean I'd have to make a chapter for the 800 word ending. Eh. Anyway, enjoy the absolutely nothing happening for the rest of the day!


	29. Stop Right There

The best part about writer's block in certain areas of a story isn't the fact that when you finally break it the will be good. It's the fact that you start working on all the other parts. That said, I should definitely have next chapter done by next week.

* * *

**CHAPTER 28: STOP RIGHT THERE**

-_I'm BAAACK..._-

I was suddenly in the air. And no longer on my back. Gravity was pulling me straight ahead to where I was facing, so I hit the ground with a clang. I was too tired and wounded to pick myself up. Not-so-thankfully, two underworld knights took the liberty of taking my sword and shield, and lifted me by my arms. They began to drag me across the room. I looked around, and I was in the throne room.

I looked at Merlina, who looked at me. Not in anger or grief. She looked impressed.

"I've been expecting you. You are an incredible fighter," She complimented. "But you were outmatched."

"Alright, let's cut to the chase, why?" I asked. "Why did you have to merge this world and the underworld? Weren't we doing the opposite?"

"This kingdom will fail one way or another." Merlina began to explain. "Such is its fate."

She began to lean in, right into my face. To increase my chances of living, I didn't spit in her face like I would if I was in good health. "Lancelot and Gawain's rift shall do-"

"I killed Lancelot." I interrupted her with a chuckle. -_Any fans of Mister Unsmiley over there wondering why I did it now, there, I have another reason. In the Arthurian tales, Lancelot is a big pimp, and hits on Gawain's... wife I think? Or was it his sister? Anyway, Gawain and Lancelot they get into a fight, fucks up the whole organization. I just stopped that by killing Lancelot._- "APOCALYPSE AVERTED, or so it should have been if you didn't cause this."

"Sadly, it is not that simple. This was to be our ideal world, but it will not last."

"Which is why you enjoy it while it lasts, and not _pry it from the ground!_"

"Let me explain!"

"Fuck you, and fuck that neon guy back in the foyer!"

"... You didn't check underneath the helmet, did you?"

There was a blank look on my face for a tense moment. Leon disappears, Neon appears. _Leon, Neon. Neon, Leon._

I shot to my feet, making the underworld knights jump in surprise.

"WHAT THE _FUCK_ DID YOU DO TO LEON?" I shouted.

At that point the knights kicked at my shins, sending me back to my original dragged position.

"He helped me, for a reward..."

"I COULD EAT A BOWL OF ALPHABET SOUP AND SHIT A BETTER EXCUSE THAN THAT! What was all the gibberish about, eh! After you answer those questions I'll tear you THREE new assholes! One for each Sacred Sword!"

"You honestly thought you could beat me?"

"Not alone! Right now, there are eighty men marching throughout this keep! White Death is heading your way!"

"It's a shame they all will die, then." Merlina said with a 'hmph'. "Instead of fighting me, you could have just let me do what I want."

"_FUCK YOU, I WON'T DO WHAT YOU TELL ME!_"

I was beginning to be dragged off, but still, I glared at her from over my shoulder, shouting "FUCK YOU, I WON'T DO WHAT YOU TELL ME" over and over again, until I was dragged out of the room. Then I shouted one big "MOTHERFUCK_ERRRRRR_."

* * *

They dragged me up stairs, letting my legs clang on every single stair. At the top of the tower, there was a door. They opened it, and in it was a chair, and a small three walled section with a bed and a bucket. They threw me into the section with three walls. It seemed like a cell, except without the bars. Before I could get up, one of them had pulled a lever, which dropped bars from a secret compartment in the ceiling into the holes in the floor, between me and them. They tossed my supplies behind the chair, and one of them sat on it.

Seeing as there was a cot, I may as well rest for a minute or two. I laid down on the prison bed. It was cold. The cobblestone that made up the entire prison complex of the castle was dusty, the cot was stuffed with leaves, and the pillow was just a rag folded up a good amount of times and tossed into a sack. Wasn't as bad as it seemed, though. But still bad.

After my couple minutes of rest, I got up, and decided that now that I was examining everything I could, I should check the bars. They were iron. Probably not hollow. A purple aura surrounded them, giving me a hunch that it was much more durable than it seemed because of some type of magic.

So here I am, locked up in this cell. No way for me to squeeze or wiggle my way out. The knights of the underworld are patiently waiting for Merlina to deal with the White Death, and then come and kill me. It looks like I'm hopeless.

Or so they think. But I have an incredible feature, called '_required secondary powers_'.

"Hey, you think these bars can stop me!" I shouted at the guard.

-_Allow me to explain, but warning! Confusing mathematics up ahead, and it's proof that I DID MY HOMEWORK! I move at the speed of sound. And I can stop from that speed by running against a wall and stopping myself with my arms, instantly._-

"You're not out yet. So I guess."

-_I weigh 35 kilograms (or 77 pounds, but I can't use POUNDS with what I'm doing), one meter tall (again, 3 feet 3 inches, but that doesn't matter) and move at the speed of sound, which is 343.2 meters a second. Mass times Acceleration equals force. Multiply those two numbers, and you get 11977 newtons of force. That's me slamming into something, taking a whole second to slow down._-

"No."

-_My arms are half a meter long. Sound takes .001716 seconds to go through half a meter. The reciprocal of that number is 582._-

I walk to the back of the cell, and get in position.

-_Multiply 582 and 11977, and you get __6979603 newtons. Or..._-

I charge, rearing both my arms back.

-_SEVEN HUNDRED ELEVEN THOUSAND, SEVEN HUNDRED AND TWENTY ONE_ _KILOGRAMS, OR..._-

I shoot my arms forward at the bars. I barely even feel them.

-_ONE MILLION, SIXTY NINE THOUSAND, AND SEVENTY SEVEN POUNDS._-

I almost effortlessly break through the bars, shattering them into pieces. As the pieces fly out, the roots of the bar fling back and break the cell floor and ceiling. The pieces of metal bouncing around the room found themselves lodged into the underworld beings before I stepped out from inside the fresh gap I had made in the cell door.

-_That is the least amount of force it takes to stop me, at full speed. 0.75 million pounds per arm. Thank God it only happens when I'm about to get splattered across a wall, or, in this case, get spaghettied through the bars. I just googled how to do that because I was wondering what the fuck the physics behind that were. Now that I did do that, the best guess I can have as to why the fuck don't my bones break when this happens is that when I'm at high speed and about to slam into a wall or something, my arms turn harder than diamond. I'm no doctor, physicist, or anything. Hell, I don't even know what the word "quantum" means! I ain't smart, I'm just clever. Clever as FUCK._-

I begin looking over the enemies, who are vanishing from vision, leaving behind a steel sword. I walk over, grab the sword and my shield (which was protected by the chair, which had been broken). and I get on my mark to start sprinting down the stairs.

_ChchchchchCHCHCHCHCRIIIICHHHH  
_

"What the!" I shouted as I turned my head to the noise. The cobblestone walls was apparently pushed back as well as the cell floor and ceiling. They were breaking off bits of the wall, too. I watched as the wall slowly crumbled and tumbled and finally fell out. Through the giant hole in the wall, I saw that the forest outside the castle walls were on fire. -_Me and my Molotov cocktails._- I turned my head in front of me again.

And then a dragon slammed into the hole.

"HOLY SHIT!" I shouted, swinging my sword toward it as I turned to face it, even though it was inside the cell and I was in the hallway.

"Sir Sonic!" Said a female voice, seemingly coming from the dragon.

To be honest, I had first thought the dragon had eaten Nimue, and was about to repeat this thought out loud when Nimue climbed on top of the dragon's head. I sighed with relief.

"Nimue, you scared me there." I chuckled, and then I saw she had a sword on her hip. "You're going to fight too?"

"Sir Sonic, you've done a lot for us. You asked for a true ally. One that supports the cause enough to put their life on the line for us. You've protested against fighting alone, and yet you did it anyway. A stranger, from a foreign land, with the power and pride to fight for what is right, regardless of how much you know this place. You care more about this land than some of us do. And for that, you have been rewarded." She said kindly.

Then, she held out two vials. One contained a clear liquid, and the other contained a yellow one.

"One is the holy water from the lake." Nimue informed me. Taking my cue, I began to remove pieces of armor that had been pierced to administer the holy water. "And the other is a strength potion. It pushes your body to the best it can do, and it's very severe. It won't kill you or such, but you will be tired from it after its effects wear off."

I stopped. '_Push my body to the best I can do.'_ I don't know about you, but I like the sound of those words.

I bit the cork off and drank it all in one swig, before tossing Nimue the vial. He began pouring the holy water on his wounds. It hurts, in a very weird way. The wound sizzles like bacon, except without the heat.

"... Sonic..." Nimue began, with a nervously curious voice.

I gritted my teeth from the sting of the holy water. "Yeah?" -_Also, the strength potion tastes like fish. Ugh._-

She turned to look at the hole behind her, the dragon patiently waiting. She turned around with a panicked face. "How did you do that? You had no weapons..."

The vial was empty, and I began putting the armor back on. I shook myself, stretched, and grabbed the sword.

"Oh... just a test."

She looked around quickly and saw the metal bar fragments scattered about. Her eyebrows rose. I flicked my hand in a "shoo" fashion at her as I began to walked out into the stairwell, my head turned to face her as I spoke.

"Thank you, this is all I could ever possibly need to take Merlina on. You've helped me plenty. Now, go to the path leading to the Knight's Passage and wait there! Please!"

As I finished, I turned back around, and ran down the stairs.

* * *

White Death exited the large, spacious room, leaving a smoldering pile of burned goo behind them. Some of them had died; thieves with daggers did not fare so well against the monster, and an archer was pinned to the wall with one of the spears. But they did expect losses. The bodies would be collected on the way out, and given proper treatment. The Knights of the Round Table would see to it.

Tired from all the fighting, and trying to conserve energy for the inevitable big fight with Merlina, many of the group had slowed to a walking pace. Others jogged. But the Knights of the Round Table ran restlessly.

Percival was in the lead. She had picked up a flameberge from a decorative armor set, after quickly inspecting that it was much sharper than her Sacred Rapier. She was followed by Bors, with his spiked ball and chain flail swinging as he ran. Behind them was Galahad, his falchion at his side. In the back trailed Lamorak, Gawain, and Galehaut, left behind because they had searched the slime beast's remains for anything of value.

They fought their way into the throne room. It wasn't much of a room. The most of the walls were hidden from a red shroud of some sort. Bits and pieces of pillars floated around. There, a pale woman with dark lavender hair sat in the graciously decorated chair, with a withered flower covering her mouth. It was Merlina. She was wearing a completely different outfit. She had black dress with gold detail lining, and a feathery collar with similar cuffs. Lamorak would have chuckled at the absurdity of her feathered parts if he couldn't feel power emanating from across the room.

The knights stopped, and when they heard the crowd gathering behind them, they held out their arms, gesturing them to halt.

"So, you are the force trying to overthrow me...?" Merlina asked calmly.

"Yes!" Bors boomed, assuming control of White Death. "You are bringing nothing but hell upon us!"

"The hell Sonic fought against!" Shouted an archer from the crowd.

"The hell _we_ fought against!" Gawain added.

"You all know nothing of what is to become of this world." Merlina said bluntly. "If you return to your homes, I will ensure you with your lives."

"And have them taken by those you've cornered us with?" Cried an agitated warlock with a sea shanty tone from the crowd, marching ahead of the knights. "I'll shrink your head and _hang it from my door_!"

He rose his staff, and began to cast a spell. Wind swooshed in as Galahad ran up to try to stop him. The Warlock pushed the white knight away with his elbow forcibly. By this time the wind was at tornado-like speeds, swushing the Warlock's hair around. He began to shout an incantation.

"... _Eaw regnweard D__wolma, __ætstæl mé!__ E__ac __þes__ galdorléoð__, __Þrimilce __híe__dwolcræft __béon__ábruðe!_" The Warlock chanted in Old English.

Wind began blowing in. More specifically, a cloud. It all circled front of him. It had sucked in a cloud from the sky, and slowly, the cloud began to precipitate. Water drops fell into the puddle it made, as the water seemed to pulse. An organ of some sort materialized inside the puddle of water. Quickly, it surged upward, and formed a somewhat humanoid being of water. It had yellow-green eyes, and claws composed entirely of water.

The crowd cheered and roared with excitement as the wind died down and the Warlock began to laugh. "Hahaha, ástægan! Wiþwinnan þes_ bepæcestre!_" The Warlock cheered on the water monster in Old English.

It made bubbly noises as it turned to Merlina. She had a surprised look on her face. She was surprised that a rather young warlock could muster the power to summon what he did.

The water monster sent his arms forward, punching the air. His arms extended, stretching toward Merlina, when suddenly it collided against an invisible force field, stopping them. As it hit, light appeared to mark it.

The Warlock frowned as the water beast got closer to the field. He turned to the crowd behind him. "She's covered with a force field! Weaken it!"

Many began firing attacks at the invisible force field, riddling it with lights triggered from hitting it. Despite the hundred attacks that were dished out, none got close enough. After a couple minutes of trying, they put down their weapons, seeing their attempts were futile at the moment. The water monster backed away from Merlina.

"Welp, I do believe we are fucked." The Warlock said.

Merlina rose. "Now, my turn."

* * *

-_... Japan time was the best time. There's nothing quite like the feeling of staying up until 3 AM, waiting for a big announcement because Ike got announced, then having to wait another hour for whatever reason, and then finding out you stayed up half the night waiting for FUCKING KNUCKLE JOE. Anyway, story._-

I casually walked out of the tower, with the sword sheathed. A red eyed knight charged me. I punched his face in, literally. The helmet indented around my fist and he flew past his two giant knight buddies and toward a wall, his dragging feet creating sparks along the way. I walked over to his friends, who were raising their giant cleavers, and grabbed one of their feet. I hoisted it over my shoulder and slammed him against his friend. They both crushed each other, and as I let go, the floor began to crack.

Another cube of god damn enemies spawned. This time, they were tightly packed and had huge, thick shields.

I charged, my fist reared back.

When I got there, I stopped punched.

I had opened a tunnel in the giant cube of those-who-I-can't-think-of-a-name-I-didn't-already-use. Everyone next to or on top of the poor zombified soldier I punched flew back, and this went on for several rows. Meanwhile the zombified soldier had flown a slightly upward arch, clearing the rest of the way.

I charged through, and when I was finished, I turned around to watch them all fall. Deciding I wanted to have some fun, I began to walk back.

"~It goes down the same as the thousand before, no one's getting smarter, no one's learning the score.~" I had quietly sung to himself. -_Because I'm at the level cap right now. You can't get much better than this without hacks._-

I jumped into the pile of enemies, ready to tear them to pieces.

-_Cue Benny Hill theme, read in tune with the song._-

Limbs and pieces armor flew across the room as I ripped and tore them individually. I smashed them with their own shields, decapitated them with their own swords, swung them around with their own bows, the like. I was on a rampage. Some tried to run away, I took some time to hop out, grab them all, and then slam them back into the pile. There was a constant cloud of smoke and dust clouding the battle zone, and there was at least one spark in the air at a time. When I was finally finished, the area where the fight took place had very low visibility due to all of the purple smoke.

-_Cut Benny Hill theme._-

Satisfied with my new found strength, I began to run toward the center of the keep. A dozen failed attacks later, and I was in a balcony high above the throne room. I looked down at White Death, which was now just walking in with my knights up front. One of the hawk eyed archers looked back up, and I desperately hand signaled him to not do so. Thankfully, he did. Merlina didn't seem to notice, as it could easily be passed off as him looking at the amazing (lack of) decor along the walls and floating pillar pieces.

With a sigh of relief, I grabbed onto the railing, and began to climb down the wall, so I was directly behind Merlina.

I began to listen intently as I climbed down with oh so delicate care.

"So, you are the force trying to overthrow me...?" Merlina asked calmly.

"Yes!" Bors boomed, assuming control of White Death. "You are bringing nothing but hell upon us!"

I put a foot on top of the throne decoration.

"The hell Sonic fought against!" Shouted an archer from the crowd.

"The hell _we_ fought against!" Gawain added.

"You all know nothing of what is to become of this world." Merlina said bluntly. "If you return to your homes, I will ensure you with your lives."

I began to guess if jumping down on her bubble shaped force field would make any noise. It was mostly air and magic, but when I attacked it with Caliburn the first time, it made loud clang noises, and I'm wearing metal boots now. -_I'll take this time to let you all in on a cool fact: If you weigh down your body parts with weighted stuff, the moment you take it off, you'll get EXTRA FAST muscles, because your body got used to doing what you can normally do with the extra weight you had on? Granted it's only like ten seconds and it can fuck your body up so I don't recommend doing it just for that. The more you know!_-

Then I saw someone coming out of the crowd. Looked like a magician of a sort. Like, hobo-magician.

"And have them taken by those you've cornered us with?" He cried as he made his way to the front line."I'll shrink your head and _hang it from my door_!"

He rose his staff, and stuff started to happen. After a bunch of stuff I believe you already have read, the entirety of White Death was attacking Merlina's force field, trying to break it. The Scabbard really IS powerful- the force field wouldn't break at all.

The army stopped attacking, seeing it wouldn't work right then. Chaos had backed off.

"Welp, I do believe we are fucked." The Warlock said in a call-it-a-day tone.

Merlina rose. I don't think she could attack from behind the force field, as she does that weird blue fire thing.

I jumped.

"Now, my turn."

My metal boots slammed onto the marble floor, and I shouted behind Merlina as the crowd cheered in front of her.

"STOP RIGHT THERE, CRIMINAL SCUM!"


	30. Sonic Boom

I am sorry, I wanted to make sure this chapter ended with a bang. And not gunshot bang.

**CHAPTER 29: SONIC BOOM**

Before she could turn around, Sonic grabbed the Scabbard at her side, tossed it away, and sent a rather clumsy punch to her back. The punch was not too powerful, but still the dramatic reaction shocked Sonic. She slammed against the stone wall above the angry mob, and bounced off. She still had quite some power, that had to wear off first. Since Merlina was a skilled magician, she could probably hold it's power for longer than Arthur did. Using the power, she began to levitate before she fell into the mob.

"I don't care what you're thinking as you turn to me!" Sonic shouted at the powerful witch. "Cause what I have in my two hands is enough to set me free!"

Merlina had an impressed look on her face as she stared into the eyes of the super powered hero as he shook his empty, metal gloved hands. She had never seen him with this much strength, granted she did give him the gauntlet on this right hand to give him finger strength, but nothing that remarkable.

"I could fight the feeling, to resist it over time, BUT WHEN IT'S JUST TOO MUCH TO TAKE, you sneak up from behind!" Sonic shouted, referring to the time where Merlina had stole the Scabbard off Sonic's back. -_And not what I just did right now._-

The room remained silent. -_I want a cheering crowd, god dammit, now I feel kinda awkward, BUT I CAN'T STOP NOW. THIS IS THE PATH I MUST TAKE._- "Was it me, you say, you're looking for?" Sonic took out his shield and brought it in front of him. "_Let me show you who I am and what I'm here for!_"

He held out his right hand. As if on cue, Percival was rearing her arm back to toss him the flamberg she had picked up, but a soldier stopped her. He took out a small vase, and poured it on the sword form the tip. It was oil. The Soldier nodded as he took his hands away from the sword, signaling her to throw it. As she did, she threw fire at Sonic. Sonic grabbed the oily sword, and slashed the fire attack, lighting the flamberg on fire. -_HOLY SHIT YES_- Sonic grabbed it in the air and twisted the burning, long, wavy bladed sword and got into a battle pose.

"~_You're trying to reach inside of me! Tryin' to take my energy! LET ME SHOW YOU JUST. WHAT! I'M! MADE OF!~_"

Sonic ran backward up the wall behind the throne and kicked off at Merlina. Merlina shot a powerful spell his way. The super powered hog rose his shield and deflected the blast. The mid-air block caused him to change course upward, spinning around. Sonic used this to his advantage, and got into a ball, spinning at his signature speed, and slashed Merlina.

The Dark Queen had parried the devastating blow with magic, however. Sonic began to spin the other way with little control. He landed on his back, took a breath, and spun around on his behind and rolled backward to his feet.

"Fire!" Sonic ordered the crowd, pointing at Merlina. Reluctantly, those who still had ammunition for their rifles quickly pointed their guns upward and fired at the witch, while archers had to ready their bows. As they did this, Sonic ran to the throne again, ready to attack the same way again.

Merlina had some noticeable knock-back from the bullets force, but no blood was shown. She had created an invisible aura of magic to protect herself from any wounds.

Sonic raced up and leaped from the large marble wall once more, ready to attack when her magic was now more focused on defense from the bullets. When he was in the air, White Death was reloading, and Merlina was regaining her balance.

Sonic did another spin, and launched herself at Merlina once more. The blast was felt by the Dark Queen this time. The magic shield broke as a slash wound appeared across her chest. She spun in the air, but took control of her momentum and flew to the Scabbard while Sonic was still in the air. She dropped herself onto the Scabbard, rolling over it, stopping eventually, clutching it to her chest.

"I am impressed, to say the least..." Merlina trailed off, letting of an "ah" of relief as the black magic of the Scabbard sewed her wounds in a comfortable and relaxing way. "May I ask what encouraged this sudden burst in strength in such short time?"

Sonic kicked to his feet, and was walking over while Merlina was speaking. "Nimue and her strength potions." A smile swung across his face as he twirled the sword he had in his hand around. As he walked to Merlina, thinking of how to combat her without destroying the Scabbard, he saw a look in her eyes.

It was fear. Mixed with some anger, he later noticed, but fear was the first thing he noticed. A beast is more dangerous when cornered. -_Especially if that beast has a conduit of an ungodly amount of energy._- But, as Merlina stood up, Sonic did not hesitate to dash at her, holding the flamberg with two hands to his side, ready to cut her into clean halves. Instead of trying to block the attack, the Dark Queen went for a simpler option.

In a moment, she was off to the side. Sonic's extremely focused swing had managed to cut her shin level purple hair as she did so.

Sonic had to spin after he swung once to help slow it down. He looked to the direction she went off and raised his shield, anticipating a magic attack. He was instead blown away by a strong wind, propelled by Merlina's magic. He flew against the wall behind the throne, rolling on his side once he landed. He was on his back now, and Merlina was quickly running over, raising her staff against White Death.

Sonic thought quickly, and grabbed the flaming flamberg by the tip, and reared it back.

Merlina was about to summon an undead dragon just above where they were standing, when suddenly she heard a noise.

_whiffwhiffwhiFFWHIFFWHIFF__**WHIF**_-

_CR-R-R-R-RACK_

The flaming sword smashed the witch in the spine, shattering her magic force field. The flamberg bounced off and embedded itself on a pillar. Merlina, screaming from the pain the devastating sword toss did to her back, sending her belly flopping onto the ground, landing on the Scabbard.

-_Magic shields don't make crack noises. They sound like glass when they break. So, if that was what I think it was, FUCKING EW!_-

During the small moment of Sonic's disgust, Merlina had rose again, her just broken back being immediately fixed. She was breathing heavily, obviously not pleased with how effective her shielding is against him, even with the Scabbard. She put the Scabbard on her back as she turned around, meanwhile Sonic ran up to retrieve his sword, and she began to cast a spell. The spell materialized a chunk of metal, wrapped in electricity, and launched it at Sonic.

Sonic, at first, was only afraid that his shield wouldn't be able to withstand the chunk of metal, but then he saw the electricity wrap around it. Knowing he'd be fried if it touched his full-body platemail suit of armor, he quickly rolled off to the side a dramatic range.

When Merlina was finished throwing her arms in order to aid the spell casting, she looked over at Sonic, who was rearing his fist back. Quickly, she stuck her hand out and began to materialize something in it.

But before it could finish, Sonic was over to her in an instant and sent a stern, powerful uppercut to her jaw, sending her into the air. Sonic took this moment to recognize the cheers of the crowd. Satisfied, he quickly ran over to where his sword bounced to. He saw it lodged in a floating piece of a pillar in the red space-like area. -_I wonder what will happen if I fell down there..._-

Not fearing the all the potential dangers that lie in the abyss, the hedgehog leaped onto the pillar fragment. It began to move from Sonic landing on it, but Sonic wasted no time in tearing his sword out of the pillar, causing parts to break off, and jumping back to the room.

As he walked from behind the small line of large pillars, he saw that the Dark Queen had switched her attention. She was slowly summoning a giant blue and red version of King Arthur, with two of his very large swords. He had many tentacles coming from his back, also wielding swords. -_Jesus Christ, I just realized how fucking overpowered that LOOKS, let alone IS._-

Without a second to spare, Sonic jumped onto the pillar and raced up it. He jumped off at Merlina and smashed her with the blunt side of the still burning sword. To his surprise, neither Merlina or the sword broke. Merlina was thrown at the ghost, who was turned to smoke. Merlina had managed to stop herself in the air.

Sonic landed, and immediately he ran up the pillar once more, lunged at Merlina. She created a shield of magic, visibly thick, and moved in Sonic's direction as he flew toward her. The attacker was sent slowly front flipping over the blocker, and began to fall to the ground. But as he was falling, Sonic made one more attempt of attacking, as the Dark Queen looked down at her falling enemy.

Sonic threw the sword at the Dark Queen as if it were a javelin.

The flamberg effortlessly tore through Merlina's skull, and continued skyward. The brain matter and other such objects located inside the skull flew out, but the magic from the Scabbard did not waste any time.

Sonic, not a fan of brain matter in his face, began to roll on his side a dozen or so times, until he did a spin onto his feet. He turned to see Merlina plop onto the ground, bits of her skull's insides being pulled back in by the magic.

Before long, Merlina's skull was as good as new, and it was fully functional. And worst of all, she still had her memories. She looked up at Sonic, -_who was mildly disgusted with the whole event, and the fact that it can revive the freshly dead,_- with a thousand hateful words in her eyes. Her hair pulsed into the air as she grabbed the Scabbard from her back, and began to get off her knees. She looked like she was going to use every last drop of the Scabbard's power killing Sonic.

CHHHCHT

"AAAH!" Merlina screamed, looking back. The flamberg had fallen tip first onto her calf, and the Scabbard's power was healing the wound around the sword. She had pinned herself to the floor. -She's standing perfectly still now... she can't dodge...-

Sonic knew his opportunity, and smiled at the thought.

Sonic walked over to a rather large warrior. He shared traits as what one would imagine a barbarian to be, however he was armor clad and carried a heavy steel hammer.

"I will be taking your weapon now." Sonic asserted.

"Why?" The loud man boomed back. "JUST KICK H-"

"If it is NOT your destiny to give me that hammer, you will be traveling to Ireland _by air_!"

"Sir Sonic, I-"

"I AM NOT A SIR! I WORK FOR A LIVING YOU MOOOROOON! YOU WILL CALL ME 'SONIC', OR 'SONIC THE HEDGEHOG', _DO YOU UNDERSTAND!_"

Without another word, the massive warrior handed him the war hammer, a scowl across his face.

Sonic then went over to wandering woodsman. "I would like some oil." Sonic asked. Without a complaint, the woodsman took out some of his lantern oil and gave it to Sonic. Sonic poured it on the hammer.

Sonic walked over to Percival.

"Light it up."

As fire began to crackle on the hammer, Sonic turned to his immobile enemy. With a delighted-and-insane smile, he held the solid steel hammer with both hands and dashed at Merlina with his signature speed.

* * *

One minute earlier...

"God damn it, hurry up!" The aggravated sniper shouted.

A dwarf from the underworld wiped the sweat from his brow as he and his two others placed barrels in their hands on the ground. "Alright, that's all... let's take a lookit dis... _five thousand, nine hundred and fifty_ barrels of gunpowder, Sax. Holy tits that was a ton. Filled every room in the whole damn hallway trying to store them"

"Yeah yeah, just get out of here." Saxton replied.

"Oh, and Degroot, sorry 'bout before..."

"JUST GET OUT OF HERE!"

As the dwarf scurried back into the portal, which shut behind him, Rachel turned to her friends. Rachel herself was stitched together, wearing a dress made of black bandages and a cape.

"What are we doing with these barrels?" Rachel asked.

Saxton put slammed his hands on a barrel, leaning on it. "Al will hoist these things over his head, and you will hit it with a gentle fire spell. He'll then throw it overboard at the mob below, hopefully nailing that blue _piker_ straight in the face. Got that, big guy?"

Al nodded. He was now charred severely.

Saxton went on. "While you two are doing that, me and Degroot will be attacking stragglers with what we got, arright?"

"Seems simple 'nough..." Degroot said. His feathers were blown off in the front and his flesh turned purple from bruising. "... Oh, god... my aching EVERYTHING."

"I know it hurts, man. Look, if the bitch wins with our help, we're all good as new, alright Degroot? Then we can get ready on a plan to collapse the castle into the pit below, alright guys?"

The quartet nodded in unison. The weasel smiled, his fang shining proudly.

"I love you guys. Alright, grab that ba-"

* * *

As he charged as fast as he possibly could, he began to shout.

"_Sonic boom, __SONIC BOOM__..._"

This is it. The most damage Sonic could ever possibly and impossibly do to something is about to be dealt. When Sonic was mere feet away from Merlina, he swung the massive hammer forward and upward in a golf-like fashion.

"_**SONIC BOOOOOOOOOM!**_"

For a couple milliseconds, Sonic could see Merlina fly through the throne, break the false illusion of the red space in the room, and break through the castle's natural throne room walls.

BUT THEN

**P-EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE**

The first thing Sonic noticed was he was blinded by an amazing light, seeing nothing but white. Then he noticed his ears were ringing, which was where the sound was coming from.

-_NO!_-

Massive winds suddenly erupted. Sonic slammed into the ground, and bounced off like a rubber ball. Whatever he had just did, Sonic knew the results were catastrophic. He couldn't see or hear, but he could just feel that everything around was getting blown landed once more, staying on the ground this time.

-_FUCK!_-

Before he could regain any of his senses, his body slipped into unconsciousness, as it was almost completely drained of energy.

-_SHIT!_-

* * *

You know, I was more interested in the next part than this chapter. SO OH BOY, YOU'RE GOING TO LOVE IT.


	31. Warehouse 23

Attention all Grammar Nazis: You may have a stroke in this chapter.

**CHAPTER 30: WAREHOUSE 23**

Sonic shot up. "SHIT I'M IN A DREAM IN A POTENTIAL COMA. I GOTTA FIND A WAY TO GET OUTTA HERE! WHERE AM I?"

Taking a moment to examine his surroundings, Sonic deducted he was inside a warehouse. A crowbar was laying beside him.

"Well, guess in one of these boxes there's an answer. BETTER GET GOING."

Sonic grabbed the crowbar, and raced over to the closest box.

"I OPEN ONE OF THE NINE HUNDRED NINETY NINE BOXES IN THE WAREHOUSE, AND FIND..."

He smashed the wooden crate, and immediately searched its contents. He found nothing, but an album: It was a Marilyn Manson album. Containing every song ever produced, as covered by Marilyn Manson. -_Jesus Christ, if anyone listened to one quarter of the songs here, they'd be in an asylum. Never was a fan, though I'd pay big time to hear them play Barbie Girl._-

Seeing how it was completely useless, he tossed the record and its case away at blinding speeds. He then smashed a box next to it. Inside, he found a television. It was on, and it was playing an episode of Ren and Stimpy. -_Fuck yes, I love this show. Cartoons were awesome in the ninety's, where Nickelodeon was diagnosed with elephantitis and had balls of granite and put even the most blatant sex joke on the air._- It had a shot of Stimpy, sleeping soundly in bed, slowly panning to the right. As it got to the middle, it suddenly swung and stopped to a close up of Ren's face.

"I... I was _nice_ today..." He said in the insane tone. -_Oh god, I remember this scene. I love it enough to watch it. It's a miracle that they got this past censors._-

The rest of the scene played out how it normally went; Ren rambled on about his hands being dirty from answering Stimpy's fan letters -_Because Stimpy felt bad for Ren, Stimpy made Ren president of his fan club._- and plotted revenge against his friend.

"They think he's a _god_... _but he's as mortal as we_... I KNOW." Ren dragged on as he looked at the sleeping Stimpy. Ren visioned a red dotted line wrap around his neck. Ren grasped an imaginary neck. "Just ONE QUICK..." He twisted his hands. "TWIST! It's over."

Then, when the camera cut to the shadow view of Ren advancing onto his friend Stimpy, something changed from the normal episode that Sonic remembered fairly well.

Ren had grabbed Stimpy's neck. -_OH GOD._-

Sonic slammed the box top back onto the crate, but it did not stop the noise. Sonic heard Ren's insane laughter, he heard Stimpy wake up, gasping for air, and he heard the swift, brutal crack.

Deciding it was best to ignore the rest of the episode of the TV that was still broadcasting regardless of any cables, antennas or such, Sonic began opening more crates. Out of the crates came more interesting items but none would help him. One box had a globe with the western half of the globe removed, and also in the box, novelty items celebrating the five hundredth year anniversary of Christopher Columbus sailing from Spain to India. Another box contained a red and white hat with writing in another language on it, a pistol named the "Polar Star," a black tank top, red pants, and green panties with the heart in the center. A third had contained Tails Doll. -_My reaction to this finding the doll can only be described with one word that I have been using a lot recently: "Nope."_-

Then, in the next box he opened, was a person, with his back facing Sonic. Sonic was about to touch the man on the shoulder, when the person revealed himself by tossing his body around like it was a rag doll.

He was John freeman who was Gorden Freemans brother, who had prediously saved world from combine. -_OH GOD WHAT IS GOING ON I FEEL DIZZY MY EYES ARE BLURRY AND MY HEARING IS FUZZY. MY SENSES ARE DETERIORATING._-

John Freeman ran into Sonic an hug him hard.

"Thank god you camed" John Freeman exclaimed from top of lung to blue hedgehog, lifting him by arms. "I was so LONALY in there! Have you came to rescu John Freeman from Zombie ghoasts?"

Sonic smashed John Freeman over teh head with crowbar, and made the story slightly more bearable to read.

"SHUT UP JOHN FREEMEN" Sonic shouted at John Freeman, smashing and hitting and bashing John Freeman over and over again until the story became more and more sensible and restored to its normal grammatical, spelling, and descriptive quality it once had. Seeing his job was finished, for the most part, Sonic began to walk away.

But it was not over for John Freeman and his spootlight! He pulled out wepon and began shooting boolets at Sonic, who dogjed and ran pretty fast and escaped Freemans raff.

Behind a bunch of creats, Sawnic grabbed rockit lawnchair and raced out of the cover at John Freeman. Sonic fired the rockit at ground and jumepd at same time, flying high into the sky until he hit seiling and fall. Meanwhile, John Freeman flew back from explosion and smashed into crate. John Freeman took aime at faling enemy but his wepon had been jammed! Fruiosly, John Freeman reached for the contents of the crate he crashed into – a lite maschiene gun, and began spraying and praying at the blue menance.

Conis began running and running and doging shots like dragon ball zee guy and spun out of control and smashed into a pile of cretes. When Sonic smashed into crates, he oppen boexs filled with plants, books and moar wepons. But when Sonic went THROUGH them, he destroyed the wepons, tore the books, and made pants dead.

Wile undr pile of boxes, Sonic heard banging from box he didnt break and screaming and calling from within it.

"SONIC!" The voice called out. "GET ME OUT OF HER! IT IS DARK AND COLD AND NOT AT ALL NICE INSIDE THIS THINGAMAJIGGER." -_Look at that, poor kid can't even say "here" right._-

silencing out cry of help, Sonic dashed out of box mountani and nailed John Freeman in the fase. The punch was so deavastating John Freeman flew through more sqwares of wood and out of the warehouse.

Sonic felt his sense quality slowly returning to normal.

"Holy shit, that was fucktarded." Sonic laughed, holding his head dizzily. -_THIS IS WHY I HATE FANFICS. Some CAN be good, but the rest are like 'holy shit just purge these thoughts from my head' retarded._-

"Yo! Over here!" The voice cried out again.

Sonic sighed. He was not in the mood for another reality-altering guest star, but he was willing to take chances. He tossed aside pieces of broken boxes, torn novels, shattered fire arms and dead pants (or plants, he couldn't quite just tell yet) to reach the box with the distressing victim.

He pulled the box out from the many others in the pile, into an open area. Wiping the sweat from his brow, he grabbed the crowbar he had dropped when John Freeman punched him the first time and began to pry open the box.

As the lid of the box slid off, an orange light illuminated from inside. Sonic, not so excited about meeting more people, waiting for the person inside to show himself. It didn't seem too much, though. From the sound of his voice, it was probably a nine year old black child, however the tone he spoke him awfully reminded him of the 'gangsta' trend going around. All in all, nothing ordinary was inside this box. -_Please, God, let this NOT be Ganja the Hedgehog..._-

The captive slowly began to rise out of the box. His body glowed orange and yellow, like the sun. Sonic squinted his eyes, and quickly after doing so the extreme light faded away. When Sonic made out the shape, and its texture, he could not believe his eyes.

It was a fetus.

Made entirely of Cheetos.

"S'up," the aborted Cheetos fetus began. "Name's Cheetus."

"OH MY GOD. WHAT THE FUCK."

"What? You never seen a fetus before?"

"I've never seen a Cheetos fetus." -_Not only that, one with the ability to float and speak. So, earlier, he wasn't trying to say "get me out of here", I think..._-

"Well, we're not exactly normal."

"I could tell."

"Anyway, you let me out. You get three wishes."

"Wait _WHAT_? Wishes?"

"Yeah. Like a genie."

"So, you're Cheetus, the aborted Cheetos fetus, Genie of the Storage Crate."

"Yeah? Got a problem with that?"

-_I am talking to a talking half-of-an-organism composed entirely of Cheetos, that talks like a nine year old gangsta, named Cheetus the Fetus, who happens to be The Genie of the Storage Crate, in a warehouse full of random bullshit, right after I had fought John fucking Freeman. And I'm not in the funny farm._-

"Not at all. Look Cheetus, I don't have much time. I was just in a fight, not with John Freeman, and I got K.O.'d from SOMETHING from my last hit. I'm afraid I'm vulnerable while unconscious. Can you help me out of my unconsciousness, if only for a moment, O mighty Cheetus, Genie of the Storage Crate?"

"First of all, cut the shit."

"Alright."

"Second, I'm a genie, what did you expect? Just wish for it, bro. But if you leave, you can forget your other two wishes. Cool?"

"Cool, alright." Sonic chuckled. He was about to open his mouth to wish himself awake, but Cheetus interrupted him.

"I guess your first wish is a girl that meets your standards? CUZ EL OH EL, YOU CAN'T GET THAT EVEN IN A DREAM."

Sonic tilted his head and smiled in an insane fashion as he slowly ground his teeth and he thought of other plans. _-...Though I can't deny how right he is about my standards.-_ "Oh, I was just going to get myself out of here, but right now, I just want you to shut up. I wish Cheeto the Cheetah would bust through the warehouse door right now."

"... oh shit."

A loud crash silenced them. A roar had followed, and echoed throughout the warehouse.

"I wish I regained the consciousness I lost a minute ago, or so." Sonic ordered, looking at Cheetus.

"...Alright. You're a bitch tho."

"Yeah yeah, that mouth really waters Cheeto's mouth."

"Fine, dickbutt."

And Sonic's head exploded.


	32. Aeiou

I don't want to WRITE, I wanna look at cool stuff on the _INTERNE_-

"Dialga190: aeiou  
Raxz: asdf  
Black Lightning: John Madden  
Ricky: HOSES HOSES HOSES HOSES HOSES HOSES HOSES HOSES HOSES HOSES HOSES HOSES HOSES HOSES HOSES HOSES"

FUCK IT.

* * *

**CHAPTER 31: AEIOU**

Sonic couldn't tell if he had woke up. He felt very heavy, yet breathed softly. Obviously tired, Sonic shot his eyes open. He saw a clear, blue sky, with the sun shining above. He was lying down in a square hole, being boxed in by huge bricks that the castle foundations were constructed from.

Shocked from what he had managed do, he began to wonder how he had done it, but the wearyness bothered him. He couldn't think straight. Seeing as how he wasn't in any life threatening danger, he decided that it was okay to sleep and regain his energy.

* * *

It wasn't a very long rest. Thirty minutes after his nap had began, noises brought him out of sleep. Now noticeably less tired, he paid attention to these sounds.

"... Did you find anyone?" One of them called.

"Nah, found Sonic's crazy talking sword, though." Another called back. "The part with the face. Can't find the other half, though.

"Keep looking!"

They were looking for him, apparently. He could have called out, but he could wait a few minutes... or another thirty.

But before he could, he heard footsteps, coming toward him. He saw his seeker walk to the side of the hole he was in, and hop down. Sonic couldn't be bothered to open his eyes and talk at the moment.

And for that, again, he fell asleep.

* * *

Sonic was shook awake this time. He was being carried in an over the shoulder fashion. This time, he opened his eyes again. The person who found him was wearing the yellow scarf. -_... Did I have it during the blast or not? I don't think I did. What the hell caused that damn explosion, anyway? It was just the most random thing that happened to me in my entire life that actually mattered._- A quick glance at the armor revealed Percival had extracted him. Sonic thought it would be best to let her know that he was fine.

So, as Percival landed another jump down to the ground from the large mound of rubble, Sonic decided to get her attention. "Yawww... awwnnn..." Sonic yawned aloud.

"Sonic!" Percival said, relieved.

"Yeah yeah, let me down." Sonic said with less enthusiasm. "Please."

As he was let down, Bors, who was walking with Percival just now, turned to greet the surviving hedgehog.

"Glad to see you've made it." The armadillo said, taking off his helmet. "We could use some help in extracting other knights. We've yet to find Galahad and Lamorak, although Galehaut. Gawain and I are proving to be an effective searching team, not counting the dozen or two members of the small army you got us."

"Great, but..." Sonic trailed off, putting his back to the rock behind him and slowly sliding to the ground. "...my aching_ everything..._"

"Understandable, but please, when you can, help us out here, alright?" Bors asked politely. "It's terribly hard work. Can you walk?"

Sonic groaned. "I can walk, it is just that it hurts."

"Well, the remains of the courtyard is just down, the grass is much more comfortable than any rock here."

"Alright alright, just... let me..."

Sonic slowly began to nudge his way toward the edge of the massive block he was sitting on. When his feet got to the edge, he pulled himself off, and got into a ball. He began to roll to the bottom of the pile of rocks, and when he felt the grass, he uncurled and sprawled out across the ground.

"... Strange fellow." Bors commented.

"Indeed." Percival agreed.

"And you do notice he sings, too? Not the best I've ever heard, though." -_HATERS GONNA HATE. Also, if you read all of these sections in my voice, you're doing it wrong. The ones with the squiggly lines are thought in the voice of the singer, because it's a song. And right now, you're supposed to be reading in the voice of Morgan Freeman. Go ahead, reread it. Take your time, let it soak into your mind. Snooping as usual, I see._-

Sonic laid there in the sun, not wanting to move a limb, searching through his internal music player to try to remember a song that he likes to help pass time. -_~Can you feel liiife, movin' through your mi~-~Home street, where you live, girls talk about their social lives. They're made of lipstick, plastic an-~-~Once upon a time, you could be a bad guy, and you'd live to see another day...~_-

Suddenly, Sonic saw something in the corner of the eye. The exhausted hero lifted his head to investigate, and saw a black shadow move under the bricks. Too tired to let it down gently, Sonic slammed his head on the ground.

"Ow." He said monotonously.

"Sonic!"

Sonic's head came back up at the sound of the familiar voice. It was Leon. He was heavily bandaged, but Sonic was sure the two tailed fox felt better than himself at the moment.

"Hey Leon. Merlina hinted at what happened with you. Sorry about earlier..." Sonic apologized.

Leon sat next to Sonic, grunting as he sat down. "A demon possessed me. Couldn't move. I could talk, but the words got mixed with his, and I could only talk when he was talking. Later, though I fought him enough to gain control of my lips, and when you beat us, he let me have control, though he still lingered within me... A priest did an exorcist however, and purged the demon from me."

"Glad to hear..." Sonic breathed. "... Why were you with Merlina?"

"I sorta... kinda... took what you said a bit too personal. I made a quick sword and left into the forest to train, which is when I met Merlina. She said she'd make me stronger. Better." The fox began, shaking his head as he went on. "Make me able to fly. She lied, of course... I'm sorry."

"It's okay. She fooled a lot more people than just you." -_But not me!_- "... So, what the hell just happened?"

"The flash?"

"Yeah.

"I heard a bunch of people finding gun powder dust all over the place."

"Fucking PERFECT, I slammed her so hard, she lit on fire, broke through a dozen or so walls, ceilings and floors, and ignited enough gunpowder to blow the whole castle up."

Leon laughed, and shook his head. "... Yeah, yeah. Probably."

"... Did you find Merlina? Or the Scabbard?"

"We found Merlina, unconcious, holding the scabbard, on the other side of the chasm. She had to have flew a mile. We pried it from her hands and tied her up, but one of the knights said we should wait to see if you were dead before going on and executing her, as you really wanted to do that."

"Tell them they get a promotion." Sonic said.

* * *

About an hour passed. Sonic slowly regained energy, and it no longer hurt to move. He now had the will and energy to walk around. So he got up, and as soon as he did, Nimue walked to him with Caliburn, now in one piece

"Sonic! It's glad to see you're well." Nimue said with relief.

Sonic smiled and scratched the back of his head. "Sorry for creating a scene with what you gave me, but hey, could have been worse."

"Much worse." Nimue responded.

"Much MUCH worse." Said the sword, smiling as Sonic jumped in surprise. -S_words shouldn't play dead! They shouldn't even be alive to play dead with anyway!_-

"Great to see you're in one piece again." Sonic greeted, taking him from Nimue's hand. "I shoulda known you'd be good at playing dead."

"Oh, I was dead, for a while. When they scavenged me from the wreckage, Nimue did a spell to forge me together and bring me to life once more."

"Did they tell you what happened?" Sonic asked.

"Yes, they did. I knew you had potential, but that was not what I was expecting." Caliburn went on. "I'm proud of what you've become, if a bit harsh and sadistic."

"Harsh, yes..." Sonic began, stroking his chin. "But fair. Anyway, where is Merlina?"

"She is in the remains of the courtyard." Caliburn responded.

"Good." Sonic said as he began to climb the giant bricks.

"Wait." Nimue shouted. Sonic stopped and turned to her. "... There's not much of a chance at you sparing her, am I correct?"

Sonic nodded. "Yes. I'm sorry if you expected a different kind of hero, but it's who I am." -_No, it's not really._- "I have my own problems back home to deal with, so if your patience is dry with my attitude and actions, I'll let you know, mine was dry when I got here."

Nimue looked down to the ground and sighed. "I understand. Go ahead, if you must."

"It's not if I must now. It's what the people want. They proved themselves worth saving, with the passion in their hearts, the fire in their eyes, and the courage in their soul. A life worth living is one worth fighting for. Do you understand that I'm not as mean as I made myself out to be earlier?"

"Yes, I see. Thank you." Nimue thanked, now fully understanding his point of view.

Sonic turned away, resuming climbing to the top. "And again, really sorry 'bout Lancelot."

Sonic climbed to the top of the mountain of rubble, and he saw White Death, spread out, having conversations. All of the Knights of the Round Table had been rescued. Off toward the edge of the cliff was Merlina, tied with her hands behind her back and her feet together. Sonic began to make his way to his knights.

Lamorak turned to greet him. "So, how's it going, _iron man_?" Lamorak chuckled. -_~HAAAS HEEEE LOST HIS MIND? CAN HE SEE OR IS HE BLIND?~_- "Quite some shit you've stirred up."

"Yeah yeah, I know. Strength potions are a helluva drug." Sonic laughed. "Anyway, I feel like wrapping this up."

"Executing her?" Lamorak asked.

"Yes." Sonic answered. "You and Galehaut go gather an audience."

"Yes, my king." Lamorak bowed, and began to walk toward the crowds of people with the burly knight following him. -_With voices like those, they'll do anything to get them to shut up._-

"Gentlemen, thy king wills to perform the execution of the Witch now." Lamorak said. "So please, take your seats amongst the rubble."

Galehaut decided to add some speculation of his own. "HE'S PROBABLY NOT DOING A BURNING, HOWEVER, THIS LEAVES HIM WITH A PLETHORA OF CHOICES. GRANTED WHAT HE JUST DID HOURS AGO, IT'S SAFE TO KEEP YOUR DISTANCE."

"Indeed, Galehaut! Take your seats! A show is about to begin..." Lamorak ordered.

* * *

The warlock stared at the fiend that appeared in front of him. He played with the toothpick in his mouth while he examined his next enemy. From the looks of it, it was the demon that had been purged from the Neon Knight that he heard the rest of White Death talking about. He didn't look as frightening as the cat girl who told him made it out to be, but he still looked no good. _Shouldn't have started on home without everyone else, _the powerful magician groaned in his mind. _Whatever, just another ass to kick._

Without a single hint of fear, anger, or even care, the warlock asked, "Oi, whaddya want?"

"I was purged from my last host. From what I've seen of your power, I've decided you're my next one!" Mephiles answered..

"Ugh," The warlock said, starting to show his more calm, heavy British accent. "Shut your mouth. I hate your type. Not like that'd do much, anywho. I'm a lot like you, in several ways. I'm an asshole and I like getting in other people, but not the kinda way you're thinking, hehe..."

"So, does that mean you'll resist or not?" Mephiles curiously asked.

"You having control of me? Hell no! I've killed EELS that look scarier than you! While running on one of the most TERRIBLE headaches of my life!"

"So be it, then!" Mephiles said, raising his hands, slowly glowing with a purple dark energy.

"PFFT!" The cocky yet powerful magician scoffed, raising his staff.

Before the warlock could cast a spell, Mephiles shot his off at him. He flinched, but without a hint of pain the warlock smiled.

"Oh, please, if you did that spell on a woman I've known for a week, she'd say MY DICK HURTS-"

Suddenly, bird feces landed in his right eye. His other eye, which had a red iris, showing an extremely agitated glare toward the sky, looking for the culprit.

"That's supposed to be lucky, y'know." Mephiles taunted.

He was more angered at the birds than the enemy that was threatening to inhabit his body. Regardless, the demon came first on his short list of things to deal with. As the warlock closed winced with his other eye as he tried to wipe the other clean, Mephiles suddenly lunged at him. Anticipating this, the lean magician smacked the attack with his free hand, but he could not stop his attacker's jab.

The crystalline hand went inside his body, but did not pierce the flesh. The moment the hit made contact, the warlock went stiff. It didn't even hurt. His body just locked up.

With fire in his red, non-crow-scatted eye, he sent a million words of hate with only the look in his eye. Mephiles did not say a word as his back began spurting black smoke, encasing the two.

The process was not painful. It had stopped all of his muscles from budging, however. His legs, arms, lungs, all were stopped, even his heart. But in a moment, it began a weak beat as the smoke faded away.

The warlock's clothes glowed an unhealthy red glow for a moment as the smoke began to fade away. His skin was also notably more tan. Looking over his body, which had not changed much other than the much more blatant unsettling sense of creepiness that he was naturally. He reached his hand inside his shirt through the neck, and withdrew the decoration on his necklace; an upside down cross. His single red eye, although had no visible changes, was different. It no longer had the look of the indecent, unkempt ladykiller. It had the look of an insane, unreasonable killer with no sign of stopping soon. Fully wiping the feces of the crow from his normal eye, Mephiles, now in control of the body, let out a wheezy laugh through his pointed teeth, with a satanic grin on his face.

"_Whuhuhuhuhuhuhaha, uh huhuhuhuhuhhh..._"

* * *

-_~Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooo. I ain't happy, I'm feelin' glad, I got sunshine, in a ba-~ Oh hello._-

Sonic had waited until the search parties gave up searching for survivors. Before they did, however, they found at least twenty more of the freedom fighters.

Sonic walked over to Merlina. She was facing the abyss, and the forests and the skies beyond it. As Sonic walked around to meet her face to face, she looked back, fear and anger in her eyes.

"Merlina," Sonic said softly. "Every world has it's end. Every _life_ has it's end. I know it's kinda sad, but..."

Sonic reached toward the ground beside Merlina, and picked up the dandilion she had picked up earlier. "That's why we gotta live life to it's fullest in the time you have."

Merlina continued to stare. She was on the verge of crying, but given what Sonic just said, it wasn't for sadness. -_Oh boy is she in for a surprise._-

"And _not tear it out of the grounds it has gotten used to._"

Sonic's expression turned cold.

"I told you this before, why didn't you listen? When you took the flower from the ground, you derived it of it's nutrients, it's source of energy, the very thing that makes it live. When you began to plunge this world into the underworld, you were doing the same thing you did to the flower, cut it off from everything that makes it a world you can live in. Sure, you could survive in the underworld, but there's more than life than just surviving. It's about _living_."

Sonic grabbed the hilt of Caliburn.

"And you derived many innocent people of that natural right. You _and_ your grandfather."

Caliburn couldn't help but comment. "Very well done speech, Sonic."

Sonic tossed Merlina the flower, and began to walk behind her. She caught it with her bound hands, and held it close to her nose, smelling the scarce scent the flower once had.

"Grandfather..." Merlina sobbed.

The poor girl jumped a bit when she felt Caliburn's sharp tip touch her spine and rest there. Then came the gloved hand, on her back, to ensure she stays still as the sword goes in through her back. Her staff no where to be found, she was helpless.

Sonic had braced himself for the stab. He took a breath in, and looked to the sky. He didn't like the gory deaths, but it was his final chance to apply his rude personality and harsh-but-fair ideology this whole experiment was based around on.

Looking at the sky, he saw sun, high in the sky, directly over head. It was at high noon. And he saw the moon. Not outstanding, really. It was somewhat blue, as the moon usually is during the day. It was a normal day, ignoring the astronomy. Couple clouds in the sky, a light amount of wind, couple birds in the sky. A couple were probably vultures, given the situation.

Then an idea came to him.

"Oh. My. God." Sonic said, backing away from Merlina. "Ohmygodohmygodohmygod."

Sonic raced over to the nearest wizard. "May I have your staff?"

The wizard bowed. "With pleasure, milord. What are you planning to do?"

"How do I make two linked portals?" Sonic asked curiously.

"Two linked portals? That's not a common spell. Unlike most spells, where you say some incantation and a monster comes out if it wants, you needs items for it. Not many find use in it, but it's pretty easy and quick learn. Let me show you." The wizard said, leading Sonic off to the side to demonstrate it to him.

The mage handed Sonic several black and white supposedly magic beads, saying that although there are many other colored ones, those were the ones needed. Sonic practiced summoning the two things, as well as throwing rocks through them for fun. -_Thinking with portals and all._- After getting used to it, and eliminating the two he had out, he made the crowd back away from Merlina, to the point where they were all sitting on the rubble.

Sonic spoke loud and clear to Merlina."Merlina, for your attempting to drag the entire world into an everlasting hell, you will be punished. Not by death. Not by being sent to hell. No."

Merlina was trembling. -_It makes me feel bad, but considering everyone in this world would have died, and that this is like a video game where I can just go back to an earlier part and undo everything, it doesn't matter._- "Then... Then what is the punishment?"

"You..." Sonic said as he cast a portal underneath Merlina. A white ring appeared around the kneeling girl.

Sonic turned to the crowd, seeing if they were at all suspenseful. He took a moment to enjoy how comfy the scarf was. -_Oh, and while we're talking about comfy stuff, wool coats. Not only is it nice and warm, but I fucking LOVE it when a girl wears one._- Sonic turned back to the endless wilderness ahead of him, and prepared the next portal by putting the black beads into his hand. Sonic steeled himself for the executing act, taking a deep breath in.

"Are to be sent ELSEWHERE."

He launched the next portal. It raced over Merlina's head, over the edge of the cliff, over the vast forests, and skyward.

Toward the moon.

A twinkle appeared on the moon as Sonic ran toward the audience, screaming "GET TO COVER!". Suddenly, Merlina was sucked through the portal alarmingly quickly. It did not stop with her. All of the air in the general area was being pulled toward the portal, as well as everything in its way. The crowd screamed and clutched to their seats. Those trying to run away fell off the pile of rubble and onto the grass, where they were slowly being dragged in from the wind racing to the portal.

But before anyone else had fell into the portal, Sonic launched another portal right next to the first one. Immediately, it replaced the portal on the moon, cutting off the powerful vacuum of space to the grounds of the castle.

After a moment of sweet relief, everyone had began to pick themselves up, wondering what had just happened.

"Mother of God..." Gerald said, slowly standing up.

"Now I'll be the first to say, no one thought of that." The magician said.

Bors was shocked. "Sonic, you just..."

"Yes. I did." Sonic said, wiping the sweat from his brow.

Sonic returned the equipment to the wizard, and thanked him.

"Alright, everyone, listen up." Sonic began to announce to his small audience. "We are heading back home, and the first thing we do when we get there, is celebrate in the castle. I would prefer it if you weren't as savage as the previous night, but seeing how that is hard, and I won't bother trying to limit the amount of beer one can drink in one night because I don't like limiting rights, but please, don't go overboard. I swear, like, one third of the population died last night from alcohol poisoning."

There was a chuckling response from the crowd.

Sonic opened his mouth, ready for more lecturing. "Then... I don't know. I'll know when I get there, though. WELL MEN, BACK TO OUR GLORIOUS..."

It was then did Sonic realize he not know the real name of the city. -_Fiddlesticks._-

The crowd stared back, expecting an answer. -_COME ON, LEVEL TEN CHARISMA, THINK, THI- Oh I know!_-

"... I was expecting you to finish for me, but _whatever_. BACK TO OUR GLORIOUS FAMILIES, FRIENDS, AND CITY! URA!"

"URA! URA! URA! URA!" The mob cheered back. -_I feel like the commander of the Red Army. Except much more primitive._-

Cheering and all satisfied with what they had accomplished today, they began to march home.

* * *

After 2 weeks of trying to fix my constipated writing (read: forced, unimaginitive, plain writing. i.e. The Portal practice scene.), my family decides to go on vacation to Florida this week. Guess I'll read a book while I'm down there, unclog my system and be able to write better stuff more willingly.

Also, I wanted to finish this story by Sonic's Birthday, on the 23rd. GUESS THAT AIN'T HAPPENING.


	33. PARTY HARD 2: PARTY HARDER

Got back on Monday. I wrote ahead a bit, so it should be easier for me to fit the gaps.

**CHAPTER 32: PARTY HARD 2: PARTY HARDER**

"_Hey what's this city called? No one ever told me!_" Sonic whispered into Leon's ear.

"Castle Town." The blacksmith replied bluntly.

-_"Is that the BEST you guys could come up with? I mean goddamn, 'Castle Town'? How about THE CITY OF TOWNSVILLE?" Sonic felt like saying but never actually did._- "Okay." Sonic responded.

"Not creative at all, I know." Leon said, seeming to read his friend's mind.

"Oh, and I have to thank you big time for the armor." Sonic thanked, sticking out his hand. "Really got roughed up toward the end, would have been in much more trouble than I was if you didn't make it for me."

Leon took the hand and shook it. "It's pretty dinged up. Maybe you bring it back, I'll fix it up for you, on the house, for stopping..._ him_."

"Sure thing buddy." Sonic nodded, taking his hand away to give him a thumbs up. "If you want to. Surviving the things you were forced to do and feel because of that guy in you really makes me think you deserve a lot."

Sonic turned his head forward, and to the distance, he saw a person walking toward them. A rabbit girl. -_I'd have to say that's-_-

"Emily!" Leon exclaimed, running to meet her.

-_And not a single fuck was given that day by the blue hedgehog._- Sonic turned to his knights, about to start a conversation about what they do in their free time, when something else stopped him.

"... For the love of sweet Satan, my hea-aauuughhh!" Groaned a voice loudly coming from the woods. The owner was quickly making his way to the path. -_That voice..._- "What's that banging? STOP THAT BANGING!"

Some of the more barbaric warriors in the back of the group had been clanging and clapping their weapons and their shields together for some time now. Most of them had stopped at the request but others couldn't hear it. In further agitation, the complainant stepped out of the treeline, revealing himself to be the Warlock, in front of the group and shouted over the whole crowd.

"STOP IT BANGING, _STOP THAT BANGING!_"

As the clatter stopped, Sonic stared at the Warlock, his mouth agape. He recognized the person. Not as someone he personally knew, but still recognized him.

It was Murdoc from the Gorillaz.

"What?" Murdoc asked, rubbing his head while glaring at Sonic. "Pigeon _shat_ in my eye, cuzza that I fell on a rock, and now YOU IDIOTS START CLANGING AND BANGING YOUR SWORDS TOGETHER IN THE MOST _ANNOYING_ WAY, what did you expect me to act like!"

"Oh, um, I," Sonic stammered, caught off guard by the sudden appearance of a member of one of his favorite bands face to face, and that it was the one who had summoned Chaos. It also surprised him how he did not notice him before. "I- Gah, it's not that, it's just that you look an awful lot like a guy I know."

Murdoc continued to glare at the hedgehog. Murdoc was taller than Sonic by two feet, meaning Murdoc looked down at him, the one red eye seeping with anger.

"I don't like the look of this guy." Bors whispered the comment into Lamorak's ear.

"Look, just..." Sonic waved his hand from side to side, gesturing as if he was pushing him out of the way. "Just get in the back, please. We've got places to go."

The man looked at the crowd behind the king. They were all passing curious and spiting looks at the Warlock, thinking he's going to be a troublemaker. With a shrug, Murdoc smiled arrogantly and said "Sure."

Without another word, Murdoc stepped aside. He did a little bow, motioning his hand toward further down the path, crossing his fingers behind his back with the other. With one last distrusting look, Sonic swiftly moved past him, his knights marching behind him. A moment later, the warlock was engulfed into the crowd.

* * *

Inside the city, the keep was bright with torch and candle light. The doors had been left open, meaning all could enter and traverse its halls and rooms. Sonic and the knights, now with their armor removed, were in the dinner hall, along with the members of the army he fought with. Sonic was pretty sure he was expected to make a speech, so he decided to make one up on the spot. -Because I'll probably never speak like a leader to anyone like this ever again, but whatever, it's good social practice.-

"Today was an amazing day." Sonic said over the conversing men and women. "Even when we were literally plunged into hell, we all banded together and pulled through. Some of you never had experience with any weapons. Many of you never killed anyone with that experience. That said, you all did a fantastic job at slaying as many as you did. I apologize for going in recklessly and almost getting myself killed, but regardless, with my absence, you made it to Merlina's throne room. You did not need a king to fight well, hard, and for what's right! You were called into serve, and you knew what to do. In hours, you fixed a problem that threatened all that you loved. You are the example of a perfect society. All of you; you have hearts of gold. Don't let ANYONE take it from you!"

As Sonic sat down, claps, cheers, and compliments sprung from the crowd at Sonic. Dinner was served, and they began to eat. The knights talked, using more time-fitting speak, seeing as it was a party, they had the reason to be noble. -_You know, I wonder how we switched from "thy" and "thee" to "you" and "your". Both are very different. Was it, like, a language reform, or did it just happen like how "epic" can now mean "awesome" when it really means "spanning years/very long"? Kind of a big deal._-

Sonic mainly conversed with Bors, as his counterpart was Mighty the Armadillo; someone Sonic had not seen in a few years, and even then, it was not for long. -_Because where would I be without that guy, eh? Probably where I am still, but whatever, when we knew each other, he helped a lot. And Ray, Ray did too. But mostly Mighty. Where the heck are they, anyway?_- Bors wanted to ask a question. "Well, what art thou doing now? The witch whom brought thee in is dead. How art thou going to return home?"

"Look, if I don't fly to to the sky tomorrow, which I doubt many will have confusion over, I'll get a wizard to send me back." Sonic explained. "Again, if any of you want, you may come along."

Sonic looked around the faces of the knights. No immediate volunteers. Gawain seemed to be more interested in the food in front of him than the topic at hand.

"I..." Percival began, nervous about the reactions of her friends.

Gawain put his utensil down and blinked at her. "No."

Percival nodded. "Yes. He turned thou and me to what was right, Gawain. He's saved this world from much turmoil, and he's but a stranger from a world with it's own quarrels." -_Whenever I hear Blaze talking like that I can't remove this image of the Maiden in Black from my head. It's plastered over her face and I can't take it seriously._-

"But still, thou left thy friends and family, on a whim to see what it feels like to be a knight, then felt remorse for those thou left behind, and now thou art doing the same to us?" Gawain retorted.

"I felt bad for the few dear loved ones I have left behind, yes, Gawain." -_~Wrapped in black, in black, in black...~ Oh god make it stop._- "But it was for the better of the land. I'd rather upset those dear to me than to upset all those who aren't."

"I'm coming, as well, then." Galahad joined in.

"Well, all aboard the bandwagon!" Lamorak announced. "No questions, please!"

"AFFIRMATIVE." Galehaut complied.

"I do not see why not." Bors said. "As Percival said, given what Sonic has done for us, we should return the favor."

Then there was Gawain. Singled out as the only one who hadn't said yes yet. His argument had been turned on him; if he didn't leave, he'd upset his friends. Aggravated with the situation he was in, he crossed his arms and looked away, thinking it over. -_Don't blame him, I wouldn't be too fond of someone who almost killed me asking me to tag along for the ride. Then again I wouldn't be too fond of someone making me their slave, releasing me, then asking to tag along, either. To be honest I don't know what the FUCK got into her, and if I were her I'd slap me across the face. I'll ask later._- After a couple moments of internal debate, Gawain finally answered.

"FINE." He grumbled. "..._just don't shoot me_."

* * *

Celebrations amongst the knights continued. The knights had asked what Sonic's world was like, but Sonic kept saying that it is very complicated, and that he will explain when they get there. Supper had ended, eventually, and the proud civilians left for home to return to their families.

At the moment, Sonic and the knights were trying to find places to stay for the night, preferably guest rooms.

Sonic stretched his arms behind his head as he looked back to his comrades. "Call me sentimental, but I wish we met under different circumstances."

"_Whuhuhuhuhuhuhaha, uh huhuhuhuhuhhh..._"

Sonic's eyes widened as he recognized that laugh. "_... Shit!_" Sonic cursed under his breath as he withdrew Caliburn. "_It's that creepy guy again, I think he might start some trouble._"

"_Whose laugh is it?_" Caliburn asked in a hushed voice.

"_Murdoc._"

"_Who?_" -_OH FOR THE LOVE OF_-

"_Dammit, you don't know. Look, just get ready, all of you!_"

"I can hear you all loud and clear, you know."

That voice was not Murdoc. It had his tone, but there was something about it that seemed different. All of the knights looked around in curiosity, withdrawing their weapons as told. They formed a circle, backs inward, ready to fight. Sonic looked above to check to see if he was hanging from a chandelier or some such hiding spot, and then he looked behind him. He scoffed, rolling his head back in front of him.

"Dammit guys," Sonic said, turning inward. "Tighten the cir-"

Murdoc's face was within an inch of his. "_HELLOOOOO._"

All the knights turned to the sudden voice coming from behind all of them, and poised their weapons to strike. He was glowing the same ghastly glow the Neon the Black Knight had.

"...hi?" Sonic blinked in a somewhat scared voice, stiffened in surprise as a bead of sweat ran down the side of his head. -_Because some shaggy satanist bass player is much more creepier when you're suddenly face to face._- He didn't have the room to perform a decent attack.

His friends were much more prepared. However, just before six or so weapons struck him at the same time, a circle of energy blasted out from Murdoc's feet, sending all of the attacking knights fly across the hall. Sonic did not move, curiously.

"Sonic, it's him!" Caliburn exclaimed in a hushed voice.

"I believe you remember me." By this time, Sonic had been able to identify the voice. It was Mephiles again. -_God damn it, I have no clue what I have to DO with this maggot. And I don't want to know, just GET HIM AWAY FROM ME._-

Sonic rose an eyebrow, his fear slowly receding and turning to tension. "No, I don't. What do I have to DO with you? I never met you before the past few days!"

"You have. You just don't remember it."

"I WILL NOT BELIEVE YOUR SATANIST PROPOGANDA."

At that moment, Sonic saw something blue cross his eye. He didn't think about what it was until it slapped Murdoc across the face. As the lean wizard curled to the side in recoil of the marble bust to the head, Sonic saw Galahad withi his hands glowing, just letting go control of the bust. Sonic looked at Galahad with an expression that spelled the words "Thank you," and proceeded to slash Murdoc along his back. The slash made his back straighten in reaction, and after a quick look back at his prey, he rolled forward to avoid another attack.

"I NEVER MET YOU!" Sonic cried, rushing toward him.

Murdoc flicked his staff in Sonic's direction, launching a spell. It looked like a firework. Before it made contact, Sonic took advantage of his lack of armor and quickly rolled into a ball, rolling under the attack, and when Sonic rose, he quickly swapped Caliburn over to his other hand and sent an uppercut to his jaw, sending Murdoc off his feet.

"I WILL NEVER MEET YOU AGAIN!" Sonic shouted, pulling his fist back from the blow.

Murdoc landed on his feet, but he quickly began stumbling to the ground. He used his staff to help himself upright, but with it he only set himself up for Sonic's next combo.

"FOR THE LAST TIME; FUCK YOU!"

Sonic headbutted Murdoc. He continued to stumble back, and Sonic kept up the pace, switching Caliburn to his right hand once more.

"FUCK YOUR SHIT!"

Sonic quickly kicked the fleeing creep in his crotch. In pain, he dropped to the ground, holding his -_Big Joe and the Twins._- -_Chicken and baseballs._- -_Meatstick._- -_~TIME FOR THE MEATSTICK, BURY THE MEATSTICK, TAKE OUT THE MEATSTICK TIME~_- crotch with one hand, and preparing a spell with his other. -_Way to be unnoriginal, man._- Not giving him a chance to do anything, Sonic pulled his enemy up to his feet . He flicked Caliburn into the air, grabbing the hilt of the sword, and taking a step back.

"GO TO HELL!"

Sonic swung the sword back, holding the sword like a fly swatter.

"AND TELL YOUR BOSS,"

With all his strength, Sonic swung the sword like a fly swatter at Murdoc. Upon contact, the victim was sent waddling across the room, trying to keep balance by spinning on his heels, switching every half-circle, until eventually he stopped to a dazed standstill. He was losing consciousness.

"_I'M COMING FOR HIM NEXT!_"

As if those words were an attack of their own, Murdoc fell on his face, knocked out. However, still standing, a slightly less dazed Mephiles stood. The crystalline hedgehog growled as he rose an open palm, slowly gathering light energy. Mephiles reared back his hand, ready to launch it. Sonic was fully prepared to dodge and strike.

Suddenly, a red hot sword flew into Mephiles' side. It stuck out the other very noticeably.

"No you DON'T, you little rat!" Percival shouted, lying on her side next to a display suit of armor, which was missing a sword.

"YOU..." He hissed, about to turn around, when just as spontaneous as the sword, an axe hit his back.

"How do you like THAT?" Gawain gloated, getting up.

Mephiles staggered, looking at all of the knights that were ready to fight him. Sonic figured Mephiles hurt while within Murdoc's body, but not as much as he was when he got out of him. His legs began to shake as he did an obviously fake laugh.

"Haha, you think you've got me cornered? I'll be the death to you a..." His legs twitched one last time. "...auuughh..."

The demon began to fall. Before he hit the ground, he became nothing more than a shadow, seeping through cracks in the stone floor. The weapons that were embedded in his body clanged on the floor where he fell.

Gawain was the first to retrieve his weapon. "Think we killed it?"

Galahad rose from his feet. "I hope so."

"THOSE ATTACKS WOULD HAVE KILLED ANY LIVING BEING." Galehaut explained. "AND WOULD HAVE MAIMED A NON-LIVING BEING BEYOND STANDARD RECOVERY. BLACK MAGICS SUCH AS HIS ARE NOT MEANT TO HEAL, WITH DESTRUCTION AND SUMMONING AS THE MAIN FOCUS."

Murdoc rose a finger.

"Ya talkin' 'bout the hits I took or him?" He spoke in a slurred, half-awake voice.

"HIM."

"Ah, yeah, we both kinda fit that description, though..." He commented, trying to end it with a chuckle, but when he tried, his head began to pound. "Oh, for the love of sweet Satan, my hea-auuughh..."

"Would you like some help getting home?" Bors asked sincerely.

"Nah nah, I fucked up by letting him thrash me." Murdoc rejected the offer, steadily trying to make his way onto his feet. "I deserve this. You guys head on out to whatever it is you were doin', I'm just gonna head home and _slam my face_ on a comfy pillow."

"Alright," Sonic said, thinking about other things. "Good night, I guess."

"Oh, an' thanks for getting him out of me, I guess." Murdoc thanked in a very forced way.

As the knights finished watching the warlock waddle down the hallway away from them, Sonic spotted a fancy doorway down the hall. He jogged toward it, and opened it. Inside was a large, comfy looking room, with a large, king-sized canopy bed with all sorts of blankets covering it, with curtains hanging to the sides.

"Well, guess this is my room." Sonic pointed out to the others. "See you in the morning."

Gawain wasn't too enthusiastic. "Goodnight."

"Have a good night's rest." Percival wished.

Lamorak found the conversing boring and decided to spice it up. "YEAH AND DON'T NOT GET NO NON-NOT-SO-UNNIGHTMARES AND-"

A rock nailed him in the back.

"CAN IT, BIRD!"

Lamorak, insulted, turned around and began stomping toward the leaving warlock, spouting insults. "HOW ABOUT I SHIT IN YOUR EYE?"


	34. These Dreams Don't Mean Anything, Y'know

Just a little nitpick of mine, but I don't like it when people point out the most blatantly obvious references. Try to dig in deep. Hell, I lost count of how much stuff Sonic spouted simply because no one would be able to get it.

* * *

**CHAPTER 33: DREAMS DON'T MEAN ANYTHING**

Sonic laid there in the comfy bed, thinking.

-_This is really too much._

_Tails called the Neon Knight thing off because of Mephiles, which may be plausible, but then suddenly Murdoc, a bassist of a band I'VE NEVER EVEN SEEN LIVE, is Mephiles' next victim? A wizard just HAPPENING to know how to make portals? Me sending Merlina to the moon? All the knights, except Gawain, easily getting up to follow me?_

_Did I ever leave that dream?_

_Am I still in a coma?_

_What if I was? What if I wasn't?_

_Whatever. Only time will tell. Just roll like how I normally would._-

Seconds later, Sonic drifted off into sleep.

* * *

Black.

Nothing but black. Sonic couldn't tell if he was having a dream or not. The possibility of him not having one was debunked when colors began to form. There were solid, dark colors, making everything a silhouette, but colors regardless.

Looking around, Sonic figured he was in a dark room of some sort. No walls. The ceiling was held up by pillars. Everything seemed two-dimensional, lacking depth perception. While looking around, his stomach growled. Even after eating well cooked chicken, dozens of fruits and plenty of milk, he was still hungry. He looked to his left and saw a cake, with lit candles, sitting on a tray on the floor.

Cautious, he looked around. He saw nothing but darkness outside the circle of pillars. He also saw he was wearing a necklace. It seemed oddly familiar, but he couldn't place it as anything he had actually wore or seen in person. He tried taking it off, but it the string didn't have any sort of way to put it on or take it off. He tugged at the object dangling from the necklace itself, but it neither the string or the attachment broke off.

Shrugging it off, he walked over to the cake and bent down. He saw twenty candles on it, though he was not to be twenty in five or so years, all lit. Without a second hesitant thought, he blew out the candles.

The room went pitch black due to the lack of light. He could feel the presence of someone else fade into the room as his breath knocked out each candle.

Sonic closed his eyes, for a moment, and opened them. He had activated some sort of night-vision, so he could see the cake in front of him now, although everything was still not much more than a silhouette, and he could feel the presence of the person behind him even more. He repeatedly chanted the words "_Oh god oh man oh god oh man_" in his head as he realized that the person behind him wasn't a few feet behind him, more rather inches from his back quills.

He quietly debated whether or not to turn his head around and look at what exactly was behind him as he kept turning his head, never enough to see who it was. He was shaking.

"_Someone ELSE is there, someone ELSE is there, someone ELSE is there, someone ELSE IS THERE..._" He pleaded in his own thoughts. "_Hopefully someone who can do something. Like, fuck him up. Or get me out of here. But hell, ANYONE would do._"

A moment later, he felt a big round flesh against his.

"_Oh God __damn it__,__ Big, I don't have your frog._" Sonic thought, dismissing the large, fat cat whom Sonic believed had mental problems before he said anything. "_Someone that is USEFUL in this problem, please._"

His mind didn't stray too far from the topic of cats. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Blaze's silhouette. "_Definitely would have preferred Duke Nukem or Jackie Chan, but you'll do._" Sonic rambled in his head.

Sonic, unable to tell if she had a mouth, or if she could tell his was moving, mouthed the words "DO SOMETHING."

Sonic heard electricity bounce around, almost sure it was coming from him. Other than that, nothing happened. -_THANKS FOR BEING USEFUL. I WISH BIG WAS HERE._-

A pitch black hand lowered on her shoulder.

Thinking he'd have to do something in order for her to help him, Sonic rose his shaking hand and smacked the arm of the mysterious man off Blaze's shoulder.

There was silence as the mysterious man took in what Sonic had just done.

He lowered his hand.

And then exploded into a monster, emitting dozens of extra features Sonic couldn't place whilst his body turned much more demonic. One of them tore straight through Blaze's chest, sending blood all over Sonic's left side, from his lower leg to his head. Sonic shot his hands up to his face in reaction, but by the time they got there, there was nothing to block. He could feel blood trickling into his eye. It wasn't his blood.

Sonic looked at the piece of cake in his hands. It wasn't safe from the blood splatter, either. Looking at the now gory piece of cake, he became sick of it. -_ALL I WANTED WAS THIS CAKE._- Sonic, now for a lack of better words "scared shitless," stood up and ran from the monster the man had become. He turned around to face it, seeing that it vaguely resembled a king or a noble.

With a powerful swing of one of it's tentacle-like features, it slammed into the floor, breaking reality. Pieces of the room began to fall into a pure white background. Sonic fell into the pure white background, and crashed through the floor.

Sonic smashed onto the next floor, his arms quivering as he realized he was beginning to bleed himself from somewhere. It was probably coming from somewhere there was already blood on.

In frustration and anger, he tried yanking at the necklace again. Then, he tried to muster up the thought of someone else being there with him. He switched between the two frantically, unable to do anything.

Sonic, at a complete lack of better ideas, decided to try to take control of the amount of singe color blood he had at his disposal. He drew his face on the wall, and began to limp away. For the first few steps, he left blood on the floor, but after that there was none. Not that he had much of a place to hide, though. Unable to find a better place, he sat in a corner.

Abruptly, the monster burst through the floor. It in fact was a king or a person with regal power by the way he was dressed. He was totally black, other than white clothing details and glowing, full blue eyes and a blue diamond on his chest. He had a crown that was noticeable, but it blended in with his head. He did nothing but give a blank, unsettling stare at the wounded hedgehog.

He then heard voices, from no where. They were commenting on his actions. -_Just... who are...?_-

"This is pathetic." One complained. "Go fight or go home."

"Rise up. Ride out the storm, Sonic. You will survive this nightmare, and you will be stronger for it." A second one ordered. "And have some pride. You deserve it."

"You can win this because nightmares can't hurt you, no matter what it tries to do to you."

"I don't know who you are, and thanks, but I don't need prep talk!" Sonic proudly thought, trying to communicate back to the voices. He slowly began to stand. "Do you know who I am?"

He looked at the king, still staring blankly, waiting. He gritted his teeth. He clenched his fists. He could feel the blood rushing through his veins. He rose his shoulders, making himself square and tall, screaming like a banshee at the monster as he became prepared for anything.

"I'M SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, THE FASTEST THING ALIVE!" Sonic screamed for all to hear. The king, the voices, the cat girl he almost completely forgot about that was in the room, everyone. "_~WHAT IF I SAY I'M NOT LIKE THE OTHERS, WHAT IF I SAY I'M NOT JUST ANOTHER-~_"

The king began to morph, and many claws suddenly erupted from the floor. They shot themselves over to Sonic.

The first claw lifted him off his feet, and pinned him to the wall, effectively stabbing him in the process. The second one slashed at his midriff, tearing it open. Another came, dug in around his insides through the enormous gash the second one had left, and violently ripped out his intestines. The last one went behind his neck, caught the string of the necklace, and sent it toward the wall, closing his esophagus as effectively as a noose. Sonic could feel in full detail the blood trickling from his spine, out and down his back onto his legs, as well as it splattering onto the walls. Sonic tried to scream, but the necklace was stopping him. He couldn't do anything. Couldn't fight, couldn't yell, couldn't breathe, and he couldn't even open his eyes.

He couldn't do anything. He felt like a doll, being dissected by a little girl's spoiled older brother. The fabric being torn, the cotton spilling out, ripped to pieces by a person who was probably enjoying himself from it.

And the king probably felt the same way, but in the position of a brother, Sonic had figured. Crazed with power, he assumes living people are his playthings. If he doesn't want them, he could just throw them out, but what kind of spoiled brat wouldn't just _love_ tearing them limb from limb? At least that's how Sonic had imagined it. He never had problems with his family.

And, just like the mean brother would do to his sister, if they aren't afraid of him, he'll _give_ them a reason. He'll change, becoming more powerful. And he will continue to do so until they all eventually get scared of him. If anyone tries to fix him, he'll only get worse, stooping to even lower levels than last time. It's a painful cycle until they're locked under the corrupt man's grip, whether it be the king or the brother, simply because he wants dominance over people.

Whether it be in the hands of a boy or a king, he felt like a hopeless, helpless toy.

Sonic could tell most of his insides were not insides anymore. He could feel the cold air whisk through the now enormous hole in his body. Painfully, Sonic tried to peel open his eyes. He didn't know why. He just felt like he had to.

Sonic couldn't see anything other than what was right in his face. Staring back at him was the King's cold, pitch black appearance. The black skin. The black hair. The black crown. His frown and the entirety of his eyes were a glowing light blue. Unchanged from the moment he began the slaughter. Uncaring for the fact that he had just gutted out almost all his insides.

Uncaring for the fact that Sonic was a living, breathing, person.

He didn't care at all.

* * *

He shot upright. He swore he was sweating bullets. His heart felt like it would pound out of his chest any second now. He never had a nightmare that hit him as hard as it did like _that_ in months, perhaps year or so. The last one he had like that was that one time he went to sleep listening to "Blood Upon the Risers". -_~The risers swung around his neck, connectors cracked his dome! Suspension lines were tied in knots around his skinny bones! The canopy became his shroud as he hurtled to the ground, AND HE AIN'T, GONNA JUMP, NO MOOOORE!~_-

Everything is fine now, he told himself. No murderous power-crazed royalty looming behind him. No friends impaled. Internal organs where they should be, in a pile in his midsection. No spectators watching him, though he thought that might actually be cool. He's not bawling. For sure he wasn't in a coma by now, that was just some self-induced attempt to be deep, or something along those lines. Everything is fine.

He felt something hard against his back. Curious, he stuck his hand back there, and pulled it out.

He had been sleeping on the Scabbard.

Sonic gently lobbed it off the bed toward the side, where it rolled off and onto the carpeted floor, silencing the landing. After doing so, he scooted to the other side of the bed, away from it.

Sonic began to think of ways to ease himself. He was a bit hungry, but he was too tired to get up, and he was sure he could sleep with it. He had to find another method of calming himself down.

-_~... He hit the ground, the sound was SPLAT! His blood went spurting hiiigh! His comrades, they were heard to say "WHAT A HELL OF A WAY TO DIE!"~ Ok I need to stop that now._-

"...~_I can't tell you anything... you don't already know... I keep on tryin'... I should just let it go..._~"

He continued to sing, his shaky voice giving it an effect that he liked and seemed fitting for the song, for a moment, before realizing what exactly his dream was. When he realized this, it degraded into humming and it died down quickly. He was surprised how much something that seemed so little at the time influenced him so much he not only had a dream about it, but a nightmare that hit him hard.

He took one deep, shaky breath.

"... _That slut from Hammerfell._"

* * *

You can tell where I get my inspiration from for shock/gore chapters now.


	35. Trust

**CHAPTER 34: TRUST**

Sonic managed to get back to sleep, not managing another dream. Maybe it was for the better. Whatever. He was very hungry now. He removed himself from the bed, grabbed Caliburn and the Scabbard, and made his way down to the mess hall. There, he saw Lamorak and Galehaut there, talking. They greeted Sonic as he came toward them.

"Good morning, liege." Lamorak greeted, doing a little polite bow.

"I'm not one for fancy shmancy titles." Sonic criticized. "Anyway, I'm hungry. Any leftovers?"

Lamorak looked across the table. "It seems there's only cake. Want some?"

Sonic opened his mouth to accept it.

* * *

_He looked to his left and saw a cake, with lit candles, sitting on a tray on the floor._

_..._

_He could feel the presence of someone else fade into the room as his breath knocked out each candle._

_The room went black due to the lack of light._

_Sonic closed his eyes, for a moment, and opened them. He could see the cake in front of him now, and he could feel the presence of the person behind him even more. He repeatedly chanted the words "Oh god oh man oh god oh man" in his head as he realized that the person behind him wasn't a few feet behind him, more rather inches from his back quills._

_..._

_There was silence as the mysterious man took in what Sonic had just done._

_He lowered his hand._

_And then exploded into a monster, emitting dozens of extra features Sonic couldn't place whilst his body turned much more demonic. One of them tore straight through Blaze's chest, sending blood all over Sonic's left side, from his hip to his head. Sonic shot his hands up to his face in reaction, but by the time they got there, there was nothing to block. He could feel blood trickling into his eye. It wasn't his blood._

_Sonic looked at the piece of cake in his hands. He was sick of it. _

* * *

No words came from his mouth.

"No thanks..." He eventually answered, nervously. "I think I've had enough of it for now." -_No seriously, if I ever find that bitch, I'm going to SLAP HER SHIT._-

"Oh, really?" Lamorak asked, curious to the almost sudden change of mood Sonic displayed. "Guess you've got to go into town, then."

Rubbing his eyes, Sonic yawned and said "Alright. Be back in, I don't know how long, but we're probably going to be leaving soon. So get the others to take what they need, armor included. And I'm going to need a good long rope."

"AFFIRMATIVE." Galehaut blurted. "I WILL GO WAKE THE KNIGHTS. LAMORAK CAN FIND A ROPE FROM THE DUNGEON or some such location."

Galehaut almost immediately began moving toward the stairwell when Sonic turned toward Lamorak. The hawk had an awkward look on his face before he went to find the stairway downstairs. Sonic exited the front door, to find Murdoc sitting on the bridge with his back against the wall. Shaking his head, Sonic walked over.

"Didn't make it home, I take it?" Sonic asked jokingly.

"Shat it. Stumbled and hit my head, thought I'd stay here on the bridge fer the night. Not like I'm keepin' anyone waitin'..." The sinister-looking lean man replied.

"What's your name, anyway?"

"Maximilian."

"Ok Max, need any-"

"It's Max_imilian_."

"Need any help home?"

"Nah, I'm fine here, on this bridge, for the time being. Just go an' do whatever it is you were doing. I'll be fine, so long as people like you don't wake me up this early in the morning."

Shrugging, Sonic began to walk away. A couple yards away, he turned his head and shouted "It's like, ten, or something."

"... Eh!"

* * *

As Sonic walked through the city, he had a slightly less good mood. He didn't know why. -_Must have been the crowds cheering, or something, and the lack of rails to fly by them. I've got a couple of kids to make happy, people._- Eventually, he waded his way over to the Blacksmith's house.

Smithy answered the door.

"Hello, Sonic." The fox greeted. "I believe your stuff is in the basement."

"Thanks, but there's something else I came for as well." Sonic answered, going down the stairs to retrieve the sack of his items.

Curious, he looked through the doorway as Sonic hoisted the sack over his shoulder. "What is it?"

"I want to show you something. Come outside."

As Sonic left through the doorway, Leon followed, a bit apprehensive of what Sonic wanted. Sonic leaned on the wall, and put the bag down.

"Get out into the open."

Leon did so, a bit nervous.

"Now, spin your tails around as fast as you possibly can."

With a raised, unconvinced eyebrow, Leon spun his tails. It was not his best attempt, nor fast enough.

"Like your life depended on it."

He went faster. Still not fast enough.

"Like if your girlfriend was going to get beat up by that one guy you hate."

Unmotivated, the fox's tails did not move faster. Sonic decided to point out what it was for.

"Like the tails pushing down the air would make you_ fly_."

Leons' eyes widened as his speed increased twofold.

At this point, Sonic grabbed his bag. "Now keep doing that until something amazing happens, I'll be back in I-don't-know." Sonic tossed the bag over his shoulder and began to walk away. "Oh, and tell your girlfriend to flap her ears up and down like that too."

In that moment, Sonic did not hear a thing. The tails were silent, his footsteps were quiet, Caliburn was peeking out from inside the Scabbard to watch the fox curiously, and the crowds had their eyes on him.

Or so he thought they had their eyes on him, because the next moment, Leon whooped as he flew through the air like a helicopter as the crowds in head of him cheered with the force and pride of the warriors Sonic had gathered two days ago. Some of the crowd had cheered blessings at Sonic, saying that he was a miracle worker, and some even bowed. He did not pay much notice to it. He just wanted to leave the kid happy, not gain followers. He still felt something subdued him; like his day was getting worse as it went on. Like something was clogging him. Like it was forced. Seeing Leon finally fly, after all the trouble he knew he went through, brightened his day, a little bit. He decided to go to out to the markets to get something to eat, and then go back.

* * *

Sonic came back to the castle with a full stomach, but his attitude was even worse than before. Caliburn was chastising him about his actions.

"... And when you dropped your bag, you were very rude to the people that tried to help pick up the stuff for you. They're your people, you know!"

"Well I'm leaving today, so they aren't really!" Sonic spat back. "And I'm faster than them, I didn't need their help."

"Well telling them to 'bug off' isn't a proper way to say 'no thank you'."

"Who are you, my mother? But fine, maybe I did treat them a little shabby. Sorry, okay?"

Lamorak had been standing by the doorway with the rope. He heard their little argument, and tried to quietly talk to Caliburn.

"What's gotten into him?" Lamorak asked. Normally it was him with the issues.

"Oh, nothing, things are just getting to him the wrong way, and he's having trouble taking it the right way."

"I can still hear you." Sonic said over his shoulder.

"Whatever, anyway, Sonic, what do I do with the rope?"

"Hold it for a moment," Sonic ordered, taking Caliburn out of the Scabbard. "Hold him too." Sonic made haste walking toward the stairway. "I need to see if I left anything in my room. Be back in a moment."

Sonic walked up the foyer stairs, knowing that something was wrong. He's not really feeling too good, and it wasn't because of one simple thing. Even as he climbed the stairs, he could feel his patience sap away, each step. So, instead of simply walking to his room, he decided he'd pick up the pace and run. He thought it would feel better than walking all the way there.

And it did. Although he was still getting the slightest bit annoyed every door that wasn't his room, it certainly felt better to know that he'd find his room several times faster than if he had walked. As he drew closer to where he remembered his room to be, he almost felt relieved. When he gets his stuff, he could tie the rope around all his knights, go home, and just spend the day in his apartment, relaxing. Because he felt like he needed it right now.

After he got to his door, he opened it with a smile on his face. -_Yay, I can get my stuff an-_-

It was a bathroom. -_FUCK._-

But not to worry, it could have been the room across from it. Within a second, Sonic was at the other door, opening it.

Closet. -_DAG NABBIT._-

He was sure this was where it was. Granted. He was here one night, but still, he should know where it was, right? Maybe he used a different staircase to get up here? He checked how many doors it took for him to get here, and found the door he would have used if he used a different staircase. Guest room, library. It wasn't on this floor. -_FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF..._-

* * *

The knights sit in the dining room, awaiting the return of Sonic. However, it's been about thirty minutes since Sonic said "be right back."

"Anyone want to help that reckless dolt find his room?" Caliburn complained.

"I will, I guess." Galahad said, standing up. "Anyone else? Percival?"

"Fine." The cat stood up. "If he's already started his ascent..."

"Inside?" Caliburn questioned as Percival and Galahad were walking around the table towards the doorway to the foyer.

"It could happen." She joked.

"And that would _suck_." Galahad added whilst laughing to himself before the two left the room.

As the two climbed the stairs, they could only wonder what he was doing to take so long. They checked the first floor of doors, with no avail. As they climbed the second flight, they heard slamming doors. Now knowing where he is, they begin to wonder why he was doing that. He should have found it by now.

"Makes me wonder if he's even checking them..." Galahad commented.

* * *

"~...In my place, where I escape, up into my _HIIDEOUT._~" Sonic grumbled to himself as he went from door to door, opening the door, looking into the room but his mind too clouded with frustration and anger to even process whether or not it's his room. "~Hiding from, everyone, my friends all say "_Dave you're mental anyway_" HEY!~"

Five doors later, he heard footsteps. He turned to Galahad and Percival.

"What?" He growled. "I swear I've almost checked every god damn room in this museum of architectural failure by now."

"You've been taking a while. We want to help." Galahad explained.

"I don't need your help, I'll find it sooner or later."

"You passed it."

He twitched as his glare sharpened at Galahad.

"_WHAT!_" Sonic shouted, stomping over.

As Sonic went over to him, Galahad turned his head, and moved his hands. They slowly glowed softly, and a doorknob turned blue. It twisted, and the door was pushed open. Sonic looked into the doorway, and, as it turned out, it was his real room. This only piled onto Sonics' frustration, as he realized he missed it.

"GAAGGH." He groaned, pulling at his quills, letting to to slam a fist against his head three times. "STUPID, STUPID, STUPID."

"You're not in the best mood, are you?" Percival asked. "What's wrong?"

"To be honest, I DON'T KNOW." Sonic answered. He stomped into the room, and kicked one of the bed posts. It shattered upon contact with his foot. "BUT THIS FUCKING ROOM SURE ADDED TO IT!"

"Calm down!" Both of them pleaded in unison.

"Just give me a minute with this room." Sonic said, grabbing a chair.

"Sit down, Sonic." Percival suggested. "You'll cool down quicker."

Sonic, letting down the chair, walked up to Percival. "Don't TELL ME WHAT T-"

He froze. He felt a surge coming from the Scabbard. Within a moment, Sonics' eyes were going through what felt like a malfunctioning process. Percival and Galahad noticed this as well. They saw the images Sonic was seeing in his head, as very curiously, they were being projected onto the whites of his rather massive eyes. Mildly confused, they paid attention to these images.

* * *

Sonic began right where his dream left off.

Sonic saw the Kings' face once more. Staring him in the eye. His face was not directly in Sonics' so he could see the rest of the completely bland and featureless room, save for the hole Sonic created falling in.

However, out of the blue during his dissection, Blaze fell from the ceiling, the hole still in her body, and slammed her skull on the floor with a loud _CRACK_. He cringed as he saw her head slouch on itself, signifying the skull broke. Again, he closed his eyes, not wanting to see someone elses' insides as well as his own.

His eyes were forced open, and immediately he noticed something different.

The body on the ground was the king's body now. It had a sword pinning it to the ground from his back. He did not feel like he was in his own body, he felt lighter. Possibly due to the amount of organs lost. But worst of all, when he looked at the man killing him once more.

He saw his own eyes glaring back.

* * *

Sonic's mouth was agape when he regained his true vision. There was a moment of silence for all of them. There were little need for words; the looks in each others' eyes told most of what they needed to know about their feelings. To Galahad and Percival, this was literally the case for Sonic.

Sonic reached behind his back. Very robot-like, he removed the Scabbard, and held it out toward Percival.

"Hold this for me."

Percival took it from him, and the moment she did, she thought it hissed at her. The moment Sonic let go of the Scabbard, he grabbed his upper arms and shivered.

"I..." Sonic began, rubbing his arms shyly, trying to warm up from his rather cold attitude he's been displaying lately. "I'm sorry, I think that... the Scabbard-"

"Gives you negative energy."

They turned to see Nimue, in the same circle they saw her before, when she had told them how to stop the spread of darkness, smiling at the choice Sonic had made just then.

"That's how Arthur became the corrupt king he was. Sure, he was created from magic, but with the Scabbard, it turned dark, and evil. You seem more adapted to positive energy. If you do not want to keep the Scabbard, I am fine with that. We can forget of the deal we struck." Nimue assured sincerely, doing the lightest curtsey. "Many a man have succumb to its power. It would pain us all to see a man of your stature to become a no more than a statistic of men driven insane from its power."

Sonic was shocked. He had let himself go, and he almost had to pay for that. If he didn't stop when he did, he could have ruined everything; his story book friends, the story book world, his real life friends, his real life world... and himself.

"I love how you told me this." Sonic admitted, smiling. "It shows me you care, and that I need to be more careful. I will bring this into my world, as we agreed. I will use it sparingly, and under supervision of others which are informed of its powers and side effects." Sonic did a bow. He felt awkward doing it, but he felt it was needed, and it was the first gesture that came to mind. "Thank you."

"Are you sure?" The Lady of the Lake asked once more.

"I cannot be controlled by power. I am controlled by the wind that blows free." Sonic answered.

"As you wish..." Nimue nodded, understanding. She closed her eyes, and began to fade away. "... Knight of the Wind."

The Lady of the Lake disappeared in a flash, leaving the three standing in the fancy and partly destroyed bedroom, staring at where she stood. A moment had passed, and they turned to look at each other. The king began to make his exit.

"_~De du de daw, de du de daw, de de de de de.~_" The Knight of the Wind sang Knight of the Wind to himself in the the style of Scatman John. "_~De du de daw, de du de daw, da DE DE DE DE.~_"

* * *

Sonic, Galahad, and Percival returned to the dining room. There, Lamorak was playing with the rope, lassoing objects across the table and pulling them toward him.

"Alright, Lamorak, enough fooling around." Bors said. "Untie that, and give it to Sonic. He wanted it for a reason."

Shrugging, Lamorak quickly and easily did so, before tossing it to Sonic.

Recalling back to the first time he left this book, he had floated up with his upper torso and head. In his mind, he tried figuring out how he would create a harness with a single piece of rope. He got it, rushed into the kitchen, found some ink and a writing quill, and began to crudely illustrate his harness on a napkin.

After successfully tieing and replicating the harness on everyone in a way that worked, Sonic led the chain of knights upstairs. They managed to find their way to the roof, beside the flag. The flag was orange, with a hollow red circle with three swirling lines toward the center. Sonic noticed that the weather was very similar to the day he arrived. He figured it meant he was going through the same process, but in reverse. And with his friends tied on a rope following his trail.

"Anyone want to back out? Now's the time."

There was a silence.

"You may come back, but not for a while. Anyone you're leaving behind, you're leaving behind. No goodbyes?"

"Not really." Bors spoke. "I'm sure when word hits about what happened, the rest of the former Knights of the Round Table will band together again and begin recruiting."

"... Maybe." Percival said under everyone else.

Lamorak caught her words, and scoffed. "Oh great, momma's girl gonna start whi-"

"Quiet, will you? I did just leave them, not a word said... at least you said goodbye."

"Well that ain't my fault is it? Sis, grow up."

-_Oh shit, I forgot that Lamorak and Percival are brothers in the real story. Or, in this case, brother and sister. Forget being brothers with Jet, imagine being the FATHER. ~Mama had a chicken, Mama had a cow, Dad was proud, BUT HE DIDN'T KNOW HOW.~_-

"Weren't you the one to tell her to get back in the kitchen?" Gawain asked.

Lamorak groaned. "You will NEVER let me go from that, will you?"

Sonic tried to end the conversation. "Lamorak, shut up. Bors, let him go from that. Drunk people do stuff like that. Percival, I did the same thing. Sure, it was the most stupid thing I've ever done in my life, but after saving the world a couple times, I'm sure they're happy." -_There was truth in that. The extent of that truth is debatable._- "And I'm sure yours will be when news hits."

Still not satisfied, Percival looked at the ground.

Still complaining, Lamorak -_said "CHEERS TO MY BIG MOUTH"_- went on.

"And how come SHE gets all the attention? What, did you two start doing _SOMETHING_ behind our backs or-"

"You sound like your jealous."

Appalled, the bird looked over to the person who had said that, simply awestruck. Gawain laughed heartily.

"_What?_"

"You heard me." Galahad said. Just as Lamorak was about to speak up, Galahad spoke over him. "And a good amount of money says you would fuck your sister."

"ARE YOU FUCKING RETARDED? NO!"

Bors was a bit worried about how the two had forgot she was right there. "Um, guys-"

"Don't get all mad because you're on a hangover."

"Guys." Bors spoke, realizing his attempt to get their attention is futile.

"Incest is disgusting, I don't even know where you pulled that bullshit out from, your face or your ass." Lamorak insulted.

"Hey guys." Bors tried once more.

Percival herself was about to speak up, but a giggling Sonic put one finger in front of her mouth to silence her. She felt like an object. Sonic continued to giggle like a school girl and watch the scene through the gaps between his fingers.

"It is but why do you go 'oh they're probably fucking right now' every time she leaves with someone else, eh?" Galahad noted.

"Look, that is the most poorly backed argument I have ever heard in my life, you vermin."

"I'm a hedgehog! We're not vermin!"

"Vermin, rodent, same difference."

"What if I called you a bat?"

"I would slap you."

"Then I should be able to slap you by your logic."

"You don't because you're retarded."

"Guys." Bors failed again at getting their attention.

"That's stupider than what I said!"

"Then you admit to having a flawed argument."

"No, I wasn't finished with-"

"GUYS!" Bors shouted abruptly.

This time, a silence marked his success at gaining their attention.

"SHE IS RIGHT THERE."

Percival sat alone toward the side, her jaw dropped and her head shaking in disappointment.

"Do you think we care?" Lamorak spat a retort at Bors.

"Well you should." Bors answered.

"Well you lose, then."

"Hey Sonic, I think Lamorak forgot to bring his morals-"

It was then Bors realized Sonic was not where he was.

"... Guys, where's Sonic?"

"HE STARTED HIS ASCENSION." Galehaut answered. "HE'S BEEN UP THERE FOR THE _PAST THIRTY SECONDS_."

"Yeah, nice hawk eye, Lamorak!" Sonic taunted from above. "Or should I say, Lamo-_BRAWK BRAWK BRAWK_."

"SHUT UP!" Lamorak shouted.

As Percival, the next person tied to the rope, was being lifted off her feet into the air, Sonic noticed his flight wasn't as quick as it normally should. He figured it was the knights weighing him down. -_If they're weighing me down... oh shit, will Omega even get off the ground?_-

"You two were awfully quiet about that..." Gawain noted as the rope began to tug on his harness.

Sonic chuckled. "Yeah, I just hoped that the argument would turn into some random conversation about nothing that ends when the rope pulled Lamorak up. It would have been hilarious." -_Love Seinfieldan Conversations._-

Gawain couldn't really manage a response as he was being slowly tugged into the air. The force pulling Sonic up was getting stronger by the second, however since Sonic was literally dragging six friends with him, it required more force to lift them.

Lamorak was not much of a problem to lift, as birds are lightweight. The lifting process had stopped for a minute as it was time for Galehaut to be lifted. It was this point where Sonic thought maybe chains should have been issued, as the rope could easily break. As Bors rose from the top of the castle's keep, Galahad couldn't help but feel that something was wrong. There was this cold sensation at his lower legs.

While the Galehaut was being lifted, Sonic looked off to the city. It looked like a breathtaking work of art. The town citizens going about their daily lives, and the rooftops of the city with chimneys coughing smoke.

Sonic turned to the port of the town. The livelyness was much less apparent, due to the weather hinting at a storm, but the port in general made him wish he had a camera. -_I've got an idea for another play-through, now._-

"Sonic!" A familiar voice called out.

Sonic looked down, but didn't see any new faces on the scene. He looked around and saw Leon and Emily, flying toward him.

"You're leaving?" The fox said.

"Yeah. I've got my own world to deal with." Sonic answered. "Don't take me wrong, I love this place, but there's probably problems by the number by now back home."

"Oh. Well, thanks for everything!" The blacksmith tahnked.

"And thank you for getting Riley back for me!" The rabbit said. -_This is why Tails will never GET, let alone KEEP a girlfriend. Because if he has every opportunity to look good, he won't take it, and he's BETA as FUCK and WON'T EVEN LIE ABOUT IT._-

"That was her, down there. But I told her to. Anyway, goodbye."

The flying couple watched as Sonic suddenly rose from Galehaut being lifted. After thanking Percival, the two flew off into the distance.

Sonic laughed to himself at the absurdity of it all as he slowly ascended into the skies, with a rope coiling under the plate armor and downward, wrapping around The Knights of the Round Table, which was their means of following Sonic. -_Now THAT'S a Rapture I'd pay to see!_-

-_...ohfuck, did I tell the civilians I'm not the second coming of Jesus?_-

"Hey Percival, look down!" Lamorak shouted, laughing as hard as he could while the harness limited his breathing space. Percival did not have to say a word to show she did not find that funny.

"Someone's grabbing on my leg!" Galahad shouted.

Sonic abruptly stopped laughing and looked down. "WHAT? You're at the bottom of the rope!"

"I know!"

Sonic, worried about someone trying to sneak on, leaned over to one side so he could get a good view and looked down. What he saw at the bottom of the line, holding on to the White Knight's leg, was the crystalline hedgehog from before.

Sonic realized it would be brought into his world in mere seconds. "_IN THE NAME OF GOD, KILL THAT THING!_"

But that that moment, Sonic soared into the clouds, and felt himself being sucked toward something he couldn't see.

* * *

.7%.

This story is among the .7% of Sonic fanfiction to break 100k Words. I'm now officially in the Cool Kids Club.


	36. No Escape From Reality

Just so you know, this chapter was FUCKING _ANNOYING_ to write. And, since I just joined the 100k club, and am about to embark on a different fanfic, I'll release a little something-something that may or may not be related to aforementioned fanfic. if someone PMs me the 100k word. HAVE FUN COUNTING DOWN FIVE THOUSAND WORDS.

**CHAPTER 35: NO ESCAPE FROM REALITY  
**

-..._~open your eyes... look up to the skies and seeeeee...~_-

Sonic landed back in his apartment closet, flying out of it and landing on his back. Sonic blinked once, and checked his body. He was still wearing the armor, and Caliburn was still sheathed inside the Scabbard. His vambrace still contained the hidden gun and blade. Quickly, he looked toward the book. The rope connected to him was still pouring out of it. Out came Percival, the first one on the rope, and as she flew toward Sonic, the King pushed her aside with his arm, as he required a clear area. Then came Gawain, flying off to the other side. Lamorak came flying out, and went right over Sonic. Then came Galehaut. Sonic rolled back and guided him over him with his foot. Next came Bors, which was dealt with the same way, with his other leg.

Sonic used the momentum to roll onto his feet, and he saw Galahad fly from the book. Knowing just what to do, Sonic took a step forward. Following Galahad was the foot grabbing menace, the demon from his dreams, who identified himself as -_Mephalifisis_- Mephiles. Sonic took a quick, sharp breath in, pushed Galahad aside with his left hand, and with his right, tore the demon from the rope, sinking the hidden blade into it's neck. As he did so, he slammed Mephiles onto the carpet floor.

Sonic reached for Caliburn, and looked at him for a moment. Although it seemed tempting to kill it with him, Caliburn was long and heavy, and such, slashing Mephiles would cause noise and cut through the walls in the cheap tenements which he lived in.

So quickly he dropped Caliburn onto the ground, and rushed to a recovering Gawain. He stole both the axes from his side, and returned to the demon, at his side. The axes, although essentially meat cleavers, were definitely lighter than Caliburn, not nearly as long, and they could be swung alternatively to increase the attack rate. -_Excuse me for one moment, but I would like to set the moment with some fitting music: ~HEY EVERYBODY DID THE NEWS GET AROUND 'BOUT A GUY NAMED BUTCHER PETE? OL' PETE JUST FLEW INTO THIS TOWN, AND HE'S CHOPPIN' UP AAALLL THE WOMEN'S MEAT!~_- Sonic, having experimented with how to kill Mephlies before, knew where to aim first: The neck. Sonic began to chop at Mephiles. He hacked, wacked, and chopped his meat.

Sonic's Knights watched from where they were as Sonic sunk in blow after blow quickly and more fierce. A those close enough noticed that his eyes were wide with fear and his breathing was faster than his chopping. Mephiles bled no blood, and seemed to have no organs, which was a major relief on Sonic's part. At the point Sonic realized that, Mephiles was cut like bread about ten times. His knights knew the situation was under control, but they couldn't peel their eyes from the scene. Sonic grew noticeably more tired with each cut after about thirty cuts in, and began to slow down. -_Okay, enough of Butcher Pete._- Finally, at forty three or so gashes, Sonic backed away from the mangled corpse and sat against the wall of the closet, his heart pounding and his breath fast and heavy.

After a moment without it fading into the puff of smoke all Sonic's enemies for the past few days have, Sonic groaned. "Oh _nooo_... What do I DO with this?" Before anyone else could answer, he did. "This thing doesn't have blood or guts, so it shouldn't rot or smell. I'll get a refrigerator box and dump it somewhere..."

Sonic slowly rose to his feet, looking at his not-quite-as-shocked friends. "Well, you're here." Sonic slowly walked out of the closet. "My home."

The early medieval age warriors looked around the modern, shabby apartment. All around the room, there were pictures. Some were art to the kind they've seen, some weren't. Some where images that featured a few people with instruments on them. One piece was a patterned green, brown, and black machine of some sort with cartoon characters in seats inside it on a white backdrop, with the word "Gorillaz" scirbbled in red off to a corner. Bors was sure that the Warlock that had summoned the water spirit was in the seat with a wheel-shaped object in front of it. Another, one piece of art featured a creepy-looking man on a yellow background with moderately long hair that wrapped over his ears, grinning at those who looked at it. Also, a very large, post-apocalyptic piece of art, was taped across the sliding glass doors. Others were images of places the knights have only heard of in stories; the Sphinx, Greek ruins, the St. Basil's Cathedral, to name a few. There were other places, more exotic areas, that they couldn't guess where they were from.

While they curious knights looked at the room's walls, Sonic checked the clock.

7:02 PM.

He had spent a week in the book.

Every day he spent in the book, an hour passes outside of the book. Going by this, he assumed that when every hour passed, only two and a half minutes happened everywhere else.

At realization of this, he grinned, hardly containing the excitement that was contained inside of him as he speculated his future endeavors with this magical novel. -_FUCK, YEAAAAAAAAAHHHH!_-

"Okay guys, just sit down, relax, no need for the armor, and look at stuff. Don't touch anything!" Sonic ordered. "Just give me... ten minutes or so, I don't know."

"AFFIRMATIVE." Galehaut grunted, while everyone else nodded while in astounded by all the places he's been.

Sonic grabbed a marble notebook, and a pen, and quickly began to jot down words. After further investigation, he discovered every hour in the book translates to two point eight minutes outside. He eventually came up with a system that he could use for all his tests, and when he was finished, he closed the marble notebook, and hugged it briefly before putting it down and turning to his knights.

"Okay, guys, this will be hard to explain, but just bear with me." Sonic began, sighing.

Percival was laying on the bed, looking at the ceiling, also coated with pictures.

Pictures of Sonic and his friends.

"Does it have to do with these people?" She asked, dumbfounded at the fact that in one of the poster-sized pictures taped to the ceiling, she was standing next to the teen she met only days ago. Next to her was a rabbit girl she only met for a moment, along with the two tailed fox she identified as the Blacksmith. And another, a tropical island, with the Blacksmith fox, but with a new Racoon girl she's never encountered. Off to the side, there was a massive water-wheel ship with a sail over the deck, with a giant cannon, a multi-barreled contraption and an odd-looking machine with a flame held out in front of it.

To Sonic's dismay, not only was Percival looking at her real self, but as well as everyone else. Gawain was angered, to an extent, to see another Gawain alongside Sonic and a two-tailed fox, seemingly happy, in multiple images. Bors was looking at an image of Shadow and Sonic locked in a death glare, not sure what to make of it.

"You are never to meet these people."

All heads turned to the blue hedgehog suddenly, whose eyes were looking down at his shoes in slight shame. "I have a lot of explaining to do, but I'll say this first: Those aren't dopplegangers. _You are._"

Gawain stammered. "But-"

"LET ME FINISH." Sonic cut him off. "Now, I'm making this up as I go along here, but... You may be sentient. You may be real, living, breathing people. But, before... I know this sounds insulting, but again, bear with me, I believe you weren't, and I will explain why. Truth be told, I've been in that world before, similar things happened. I met Merlina, was told to fight Arthur and retrieve the Scabbard, I did so, she betrayed me, and I defeated her. And you all looked just the same. Unless you remember that first event and me, I'm probably right."

Sonic paused to hear any objectors. There weren't any.

"Alright, so I was right on the account of none of you recalling the previous incident, at least. I should say that I'm only going off of one test's worth of information, so I'm making this up as I go along." Sonic quickly got up and went into the closet. "Originally, you were created by a mixture of a cursed book that sucks whoever turns to the first page in and my mind's imagination, or _lack of it_." Sonic had returned with the book they had came out from only a few minutes ago in hand. "You are based off of the people in the pictures up on the ceiling."

"Sorry to interrupt, but, I don't see myself..." Bors interrupted.

"I haven't seen the real you in years, Bors." Sonic said. "His name was Mighty the Armadillo."

Bors scratched his chin. "... "Mighty"? I like it. A bit overzealous, but why not? I wonder what his parents were thinking..."

"Yeah yeah, whatever, moving o- wait no." Sonic stopped, thinking. "Mighty was strong, but he always preferred to fight as least as possible. A pacifist, maybe. Does that sound like you?"

"Yeah, that's me." Bors answered.

"Okay." Sonic turned to Percival, and thought for a moment. "You fight for your people and for justice, no?"

"I do indeed." Percival responded.

"Yeah, should have figured you and Blaze wouldn't vary much. Gawain, you seemed a bit over-protective about that dragon's treasure..."

* * *

In about an hours' worth of explanation, discovery, and loose end tying, the newcomers were fully aware of how they were created, the lives of their counterparts, and their real-life counterparts' interactions with Sonic. It was very hurried, so Sonic was afraid he had skipped over some important details.

"So, what do we do?" Lamorak asked, not too fond of being the counterpart of a loud-mouthed hoverboard-riding rogue. "We leave, and-"

"No, no and no. None of you are not leaving here like THIS." Sonic answered. "I'm going to go to the store, and get get you all PILES of dyes. You cannot be found out you are not them, you wouldn't answer the same, even though you are probably the same living creature. Percival, your counterpart has a severe case of Is-Not-Of-This-World, so if you're found out, BIG TROUBLE."

"WHAT ABOUT MYSELF, SONIC?" Galehaut questioned aloud.

Sonic, obviously not happy with his own answer, sighed. "Galehaut, due to the dangers of being noticed by your counterpart, new paint job or not, you are going to have to stay here until I find a way to smuggle you out without anyone noticing. You understand, right?"

"UNDERSTOOD." The large, burly robot said, his autotoned voice sounding disappointed.

"But, first thing's first." Sonic said. "That THING in my closet. I'm going to go get a refrigerator box and all the supplies you guys need. Again, look, but don't touch."

* * *

Sonic paced back and forth. He had boxed Mephiles' boneless remains and stowed them in the closet, -_Guess you can say I don't have any skeletons in my closet._- along with the Scabbard. However he did not get any dyes or clothes. What he was currently debating on how he would change the people he brought out, so no one would find too much of a relation to their true counterparts. So far, the only thing that would define the difference between their true selves and them would be color, hair styles, false back-stories and personalities, essentially making them kinds of people he called "recolors." He doesn't like them, as many hedgehogs he has seen recently shared his general appearance other than colors, and most lie about everything they can do, while the rest exaggerate beyond reason. -_Amy must be hugging the wrong person every day I don't see her. Poor girl needs contacts._-

"I'm probably on every government watchlist just for being me," Sonic rambled to himself. "So me ordering a bunch of clothes, including ones for females, and dyes to come from the mail would look _very_ suspicious. And going to a store and buying all this would raise plenty of eyebrows."

"Perhaps an unofficial way of purchase?" Gawain suggested.

Sonic paused to think, looking at Gawain. "That's all this situation leaves me, if I ever want priva..."

It was only then when it had occurred to him that Gawain was an echidna.

And that Knuckles was supposed to be the last surviving one.

"... Oh... oh come _on_, man..." Sonic groaned, resting his face in his hands.

Gawain, worried that he said something wrong, asked what his trouble was. "What is it? Something I said?"

"No, something I forgot to say and you_ are_." Sonic began to explain. "I forgot to mention that Knuckles is _the last living echidna on the face of the planet_."

Everyone in the room turned to Sonic and Gawain. Gawain felt as if he was left high and dry, hanging on a string over a staggering cliff. Sonic was moaning as if he had a headache.

"What am I going to DO with you people?" He whined, slowly dragging his fingers along his face, pulling open his bottom eyelid in the process. "I need a break. I can't think straight."

As Sonic walked toward the bed, he flicked his hand in a _shoo_ manner. Those sitting on the bed got off before Sonic fell over onto the bed. He hadn't done too much today, but the anger the Scabbard had given him had doomed his day's quality. Then, he had to kill Mephiles inside his own home, and now that he's not connected to the hell of which he belongs, he cannot be whisked back and respawn there like all other underworld dwellers did. After that, he realized he had to disguise all of these people in such a way that they would not be confused for their real counterparts, even though one of them is a species that there was formerly only one member left of in his world. So in the end he was as clueless as a headless chicken in a maze when it came to getting his Knights out in the open without any finger pointing.

Maybe that can wait a couple of days. It's getting dark, his mind was cluttered with problems and if he had to get going, he'd have to do so with six people following. Sonic decided he wanted to know more about the book's magical properties, without going back into it. He wanted a simple, easy plan, other than "throw science at the wall to see what sticks". He wanted to find the person who had this book before Tails got it from him and gave Sonic the books. He shrugged as he guessed the best plan of action for doing that would be to call Tails, ask where he got it, saying that he wanted to read more.

So he grabbed his cell phone and began dialing the number.

"Tails, Tails, Tails..." He mumbled to himself under his breath. He had to get back into saying that name after calling him Smithy or Leon for a week. He stopped as soon as he heard Tails pick up.

"Hey Sonic. What did you call for?" Said the young voice from the other line. The blacksmith from the book was older, for whatever reason.

"Tails, I've been wondering, where did you get those books?" Sonic asked.

"The books?" Tails repeated.

"The ones you got me for my birthday?" Sonic explained.

Tails let out an "oh" as he remembered them. "I had gotten them from a place Amy told me about. It's the same place where she got her tarot cards." ("I bet it was," Sonic said while Tails was talking) "And, if you're looking to get more of them, you're lucky. It's actually a block away from you."

"You're kidding." Sonic said in an unsurprised and almost uncaring tone. -_When really this saves me SO much effort._-

"It's called _Aerea's Shop_, I think. She's an old fashioned shop owner, that haggles and stuff like that. She sells all sorts of stuff, a lot of it being fortune telling and magic tricks. There was also a couple book cases, one of them labeled '_Special Editions_'," -_SPECIAL EDITIONS, DAMN __STRAIGHT. If those were just SPECIAL editions, I want to see a god damn ULTIMATE RARE EDITION. Or maybe FIRST EDITION, or DIRECTOR'S CUT._- "so I thought I'd get you a book from there. You like it, I suppose?"

"Yeah, I can tell why they were special editions. They got me real immersed."

"Alright Sonic, anything else?"

"No, I'm fine. Thanks, Tails."

"No problem, Sonic. Bye!"

"Good night."

Sonic hung up, and put the cellphone by the dresser right next to the bed. He kicked his leg over the other, put his arms behind his back, and began to give orders.

"Bedtime, children," Sonic announced in a joking voice. "Or not. Whatever you want, really. I want to play some video games. I'm going to meet some lady tomorrow, ask a few questions, get some answers. After that, I'll see how I can get you guys out of my small apartment. Find some cozy place on the floor or in my closet, speaking of which I'll go in there, get you guys some extra blankets or a couple of my jackets."

He was tired, but his thoughts raced around his head. This Aerea woman sounds like a crazy old hag, maybe it's just because she owns a novelty magic shop with more that meets the eye. Whatever, she probably wasn't as bad as she sounded. Besides, she probably wants to help Sonic. Sonic's the savior of the world, after all. On several accounts. She has to give something, if not as savior of the world then at least as customer service.

-_I'll go in, tell her "Your books are very immersive. It feels like I GOT SUCKED IN RIGHT FROM THE FIRST PAGE."and ask details on pretty much everything about the book. Then explain that I want to make my own little Batcave, with knights from the book as my dozens of little Robins. After that, I'll ask if these were magic stuff passed down from many generations, what's with the repetition of purple haired girls in the books, and what changes the story. I wish she enchanted those books, and it could work on anything. I doubt it'd work on music, though. But books, movies, video games... Man, what I'd __pay to relive some of the times I had... People I met, things I've done... And do things differently. But sadly (or perhaps for the better) they won't effect my real life not one bit. While I'm there, ask if the quality of the story does anything. If it doesn't, I could write a terribly written book spanning my whole life in paradise and get her to enchant it. That shit would be CASH. And hell, if she doesn't do it right away, I GOT THE CASH. Living in a small apartment pays off, when compared to chilling in a massive mansion, as I've got all the money to pay her to enchant my stuff if she doesn't want to. I'm... I..._-

-_What the hell am I trying to go on about? I'm going to sleep now._-


	37. Johnny I Hardly Knew Ya

**CHAPTER 36: JOHNNY I HARDLY KNEW YA**

Sonic woke up slowly. No dreams, it seemed. He felt heavy in the bed, feeling like rolling around in the bed for about an hour, not getting up. But, he defied this drowsy state and got up. He had guests waiting to be fed. He guesses he could put some bowls of cereal on the counter and head off, ordering pizza on the way back.

"Well, you're up." Lamorak said, head against the wall. -_Early bird, I guess._-

"Oh, good mornin'." Sonic replied from the bed, still dragging himself out of it. He walked over to the corner of the apartment dedicated to the kitchen. On the way there, he decided he should ease them into their new world; he couldn't imagine people not knowing how a button on a remote control effects the item it controls adapting quickly. So he wouldn't give them cereal, in favor some sandwiches.

"What are you getting?" Lamorak asked, bored.

"Food for you guys." Sonic said. He felt like a mother hurrying out to work saying that. -_And I do not like that feeling._- "It doesn't matter which one you take, just pick one. Oh, wake them up."

With a small grin, he kicked the arm chair in front of him, causing it a tilt. "OI, PERCIVAL, GET UP!"

The tilted armchair caused the sleeping cat on it to roll off and land on the floor, now awake and decently agitated.

"Decency, Lamorak." Gawain groaned, waking up from his voice.

Sonic glared at the rambunctious bird. "Lamorak, shut up before I box you up like I did that demon, because _people live across the hall you know._"

There was a small moment's silence, other than the sound of hurried construction of sandwiches, Lamorak covered his mouth, breathing "oh shit."

"Whatever," Sonic said, finishing slapping together the last ham sandwich. "I don't know how long this lady will take to explain everything to me, but whatever you do, don't leave the apartment, don't poke your head out the window, and don't scream and shout."

"Do you have anything to do here?" Lamorak asked. "I was up for two hours this morning and I couldn't do anything in this place, afraid I'd break something." -_At least he has common sense about things he should and shouldn't do._-

Sonic bounced around ideas in his head. -_Video games? I'm sure they'd find Oblivion pretty nice. But they would probably need to be taught how to hold a controller for Christ's sake. Super-casual, hasn't been living under a rock, but COMES FROM THE FUCKING MIDDLE AGES. Movie? Lord of the Rings, maybe? Maybe I should give them a taste of modern society, though... What's the last channel I watched? Discovery? It's probably good for them, hopefully Man VS Wild or something is on, so they get to know the people first instead of the technology, because a society where people are named "Sonic," "Knuckles," and "Bear Grylls" (I imagine a bear driving a car with major focus on the grills) will take some getting used to. That'll do._- "Yeah, I'll let you watch some television." Sonic said, walking over to the TV. Sonic picked up the remote from the dressers (in which only socks, gloves, and miscellaneous items were kept) turned to the knights, who were paying close attention.

"This is the remote control for the TV. You people have about the same comprehension of this stuff as a squirrel from the wild, so I'm going to tell you about ONE button on this." Sonic said, pointing toward the big red button toward the top right. "This is the power button." Sonic turned to demonstrate its effects.

"It turns the TV _on_..." He pressed the button, and in moments, the TV spurred into life, its colors illuminating the mesmerized faces of the former medieval time dwellers. "And when it's _on_, the button turns the TV _off_." Sonic pressed the button again, turning off the lights of the television and leaving the group blinking. "Can you comprehend what I just said?"

"Yeah, easy." Galahad said.

"You people are to only press THIS button. If you press any other buttons, you will be confused beyond belief, because honestly, I don't know how to work some of the buttons on that thing."

The Knights of the Round Table had sat themselves around the big wall-mounted television as Sonic turned it on once more and left it on the dresser.

"I am going now. No leaving, no pressing random buttons, no screaming or fighting."

Sonic left the apartment, and all eyes turned to the television.

All of the following paragraph happened in seventeen seconds.

On the television was a snowy mountain, and a man in the center, wearing jackets, holding long metal poles and had what the knights could describe only as thin planks on his feet. "I am a _man_." He said as he went flying off a ramp, crashing through a tree, not losing any momentum. Now, he was sitting in an armchair, flying through a forest, in a white shirt, black pants, and some cloth around his neck. He was reading a book. "And I _smell_ like a man." Crashing through another tree, he was now over a range of some sort, laying on a bench. He was lifting a pole with large black things on both ends with one arm, while wearing a green sleeveless shirt and short pants. "But sometimes I like to smell like a _different smelling man_." He crashed into a roof of a shed, and out he walked, now in a completely different outfit, with a mustache, and holding a club in one hand and a box of items in the other. "Luckily, Old Spice makes a variety of manly scents." He proceeded to swing at something on the ground, and moved the club so he was holding the steel mass at the end by the bar a few inches from it. And he proceeded to chew a chunk of it off.

They were in a strange, strange world.

* * *

Sonic walked out into the street, his MP3 player playing through his headphones, hurriedly making his way down the sidewalk. He began scanning the shops along the sides of the streets, looking for the word "Aerea". -_Aerea. Air-ee-ya. Weird name, but good, I guess. Never figured out how all the naming process works, but by god Leon and Emily and Riley and oh god those were terrible._-

Three blocks down, he spotted it, across the street. The sign was dark blue, with a crystal ball in the background, with the words "Aerea's Shoppe" written in purple font on it. In the display window, he could see items such as Ouija boards, old-looking books, and tarot cards. Behind the display case, he saw an elderly woman with long white hair re-arranging books inside the store. Having found his shop, he worked his way across the street and into the more-than-just-novelty shop.

He opened the door. The door rung a bell as he opened it, signaling his entry. Sonic looked around at the strange shop. It was mostly brown from polished wood, despite all the old novelty items of various colors, none of which too bright. He noted that the shop had some very detailed woodwork, as if even the bookcases were for sale. Perhaps her husband was a carpenter, if she had a husband. Although he liked the song he was listening to, he lowered the volume on the music player and moved the headphones to rest on his shoulders.

The elderly woman looked over at her next potential customer, and smiled. "Hello, and welcome to my shop!" She said enthusiastically. It feels so good to have someone of your stature to even trot in my store."

"Yeah, yeah." Sonic replied lacking such enthusiasm. "You're Aerea, I believe?"

"Yes." She did a small curtsey with her long dress.

"I believe you met Tails?" Sonic questioned.

"Tails? Oh, Miles Prower!" She exclaimed, remembering the child. "He's a good kid. And why are you asking?"

"He bought some books to your shop."

She nodded. "Uhuh?"

"He said he got some... _special editions_?"

The smile of hers quickly faded.

"Oh," Aerea said as he realized what had happened to him, shelving the book she had in her hand. "...shoot. I knew I should have put that premium members ONLY sign on it sooner! Follow me, please, I don't want anyone coming in on our discussion."

Aerea made her way over to the door behind the mahogany counter. She tried opening it, but it wouldn't move. Locked. Not knowing exactly where the key is, she turned to the very fancy desk, and began scrounging for the key.

Sonic took this time to examine a large piece of artwork on the wall.

It was an old-looking caricature from the sixties. It was focused on a purple haired woman, with happy blue eyes. She was wearing a little string of flowers around the top of her head, and a tie-die shirt, primarily purple. She was smiling a gentle smile, holding in her hand, a dying dandelion. It was full of detail; each strand of hair, each knit of clothing, each pore on her skin, the glimmer in her eyes, it was all there, well-worked in with delicate care. Despite the cartoony proportions of the face, he recognized the face. His suspicions became true when he read the plaque at the bottom. It read:

"_Dear Aerea"_

_By Fredrick Allen_

"Come on, now." Aerea called.

Sonic was ripped from his immerse thought by Aerea's voice, again seeming familiar. He knew just who it was, but before making any assumptions out loud, he needed other things. Other things than just a single painting. Shrugging it off, he turned, walked around the desk and through the doorway.

It led into a stairwell. It had only one point where it stopped and went the other direction. There was another painting there. As Aerea walked up the stairs, Sonic took his time, examining the painting.

This one was a painting of a standoff. It was on a road just at the exit of a city. One one side, was a wizard, donning typical blue robes with a white, untamed beard that rolled all the way down to his waist. He was holding a staff toward his enemy, with a serious yet concerning frown. Next to him, was a blonde haired woman, probably in her early twenties, and holding her hand, a young, purple haired girl with pig tails. On the other side of the standoff, stood one lone man; a knight. A black knight. He held his large, detailed claymore with two hands, its tip on the gravel ground. Upon the Black Knight's back, laid a familiar item, that Sonic had recognized within seconds upon glancing toward the user. The Scabbard. Its sick, purple magic was stretching across his arms, as if it was a puppeteer to him. One volt of energy went through his head, to create a makeshift crown out of the dark magic. There was a plaque at the bottom of this one, as well. It read:

"_The Black Knight"_

_By Fredrick Allen_

"You seem to like those paintings, no?" Aerea pointed from the top of the stairway, at the door.

Sonic nodded, walking away from the painting, his eyes glued on the artist's name. "Who is this Fred guy? I've never heard of him."

"We have more important matters to discuss than people I've met, if you don't mind." Aerea said, opening the door and entering. It was her room. Along the walls were more images for Sonic to examine.

As Sonic entered the room, he thought he might as well press on the subject. "Well, he's a good artist, and I saw that painting of you downstairs."

"Yes, but let's get on with- Oh... perhaps he is related to the subject at hand..." Aerea realized, watching as Sonic lost his mind in the pictures on the wall.

The first picture seemed oddly familiar by the simple structure of it; a boy, and a bunch of monsters doing what seemed to be a train on an island. Sonic had recognized this as a re-vision of the cover of "Where the Wild Things Are", but with different creatures. These "Wild Things" were two-colored, usually varying shades of green or blue, big eyed folk, though not that big at all. They were also clothed, with jackets, cowls, gloves and boots.

"_Where the Wild Things Are"_

_Revised by Fredrick Allen_

Another illustration caught Sonic's eye. This was a painting of a medieval city. The main road was a bridge, with waterfalls along both sides. Above, archways soared over the main walkway, and a torn orange circle split into three triangle shaped banner dangled from underneath.

"_Castle Town"_

_By Fredrick Allen_

Sonic looked over to another one. This one was a massive fortress constructed from wood and spikes. It looked like it could be packed up and sent on the move, rolling onto its side and using the spikes to crush obstructions, while massive carts carried the tons of supplies for all its personnel. -_Like, Medieval Arms Fort Motherwill._-

"_The Great Megalith"_

_By Fredrick Allen_

All along the wall, he could recognize all the places he ventured to inside the stories. Even though there were plenty of images of the Tales of the Arabian Nights along the walls, as well as other mythologies and fictional stories such as Sherlock Holmes, it seemed the Arthur's Tales story was the most fleshed out. Their favorite.

"Fredrick Allen was a co-worker of mine..." The old woman said, looking down. "I was an author back then, but I couldn't grasp my own worlds too well... so, he illustrated what he perceived them as."

Listening but not looking, Sonic heard her take out a large book of some sort. He turned his gaze over to her to see her with a dusty old photo album, sit in a rather comfy looking armchair, and open it. He went over to behind the chair, and looked over her shoulder at the old, barely colored photographs.

"I can tell what his inspiration was," Sonic noted, his eyes looking at a photograph where a purple haired woman dressed as a magician and a man dressed as an old-school vampire, standing side-by-side at a Halloween costume party, smiling. The vampire costume was implemented well, as he dyed the middle of his semi-pompadour white, as well as his thin chin-beard. Aerea didn't seem to be there. Standing where she should be standing, was Merlina, or so it seemed to Sonic. "There's not a detail different between you and Merlina."

"Oh, yes..." She drifted off. "And although we tried to keep it mostly business... some things you can't stop..."

There were much more images of them together on the page. At concerts, protests, romantic nose-to-nose messing around. Sonic wasn't really one to get to into these love stories, however. Just wasn't the type for it. As Aerea began to turn the page, she stopped, looking at the edges of the pictures on the next page.

"...like..."

Sonic rose an eyebrow.

Aerea turned the page. Sonic recognized the scene instantly.

A funeral parlor.

"... like death."

He felt like someone sunk a battleship in his heart.

"So, in memory of him, I decided to..." She stopped to chuckle behind the quiet sadness. "_Work my magic_ on my books. So his legacy could live on. _Our_ legacy. And I meant _live_ on. A world in which people talk, people walk, people breath, people have feelings, and people are actually there, even if they're just fiction. And he's in there, somewhere... Maybe waiting for me. Maybe waiting for little poor Merlina to run into his open arms. Maybe looking for her..."

The blue hedgehog blinked, unsure of how to react. -_... Yeah I really don't know. I definitely care, but not enough to do anything._-

"... Maybe." Sonic assured. He hadn't noticed anyone the like in the images neither the first or second times. He might be able to, though. "I came to learn about the properties of the book." Sonic stated, changing the subject.

"Of course." Aerea acknowledged, wiping a tear from her eye, closing the photo album. "We've already worked out the books' origins. What will it be?"

"Where did you learn that magic?" Sonic inquired.

"First hand training with a mentor." She answered. "It's sort of a private thing, I don't really teach it, or do it, much any more. I could lead you to people who are more willing-"

"No thanks, I was just curious. I'm not looking to become a wizard or something. I'm Sonic the Hedgehog, not Harry Potter."

"Indeed, indeed. Next question?"

"People inside the book are living and sentient, or...?"

"No. They are figments of your imagination, brought to you and fueled by the book itself. They are like robots, have a main goal, try to avoid obstacles, and if disabled, will be reset when you're done with them."

"Like a videogame?" Sonic asked. "Like, virtual reality?"

"I guess you could consider it a virtual reality. Except instead of technology, it's magic. And your thoughts."

"Good. Now how about if you brought them out into the real world?"

There was a silence as she tried to gather what exactly he was implicating.

"... How many did you...?"

"Six." Sonic answered, looking at the floor, shuffling his feet. "Five living creatures, one robot."

"... I believe they can be considered living, then..." She said. "Although birthed by your mind and magic, their bodies are now actual flesh, actual bone, and not just _virtual_ flesh and bone. Before, it was essentially all in your head; the entire world, its people and its scenes, and such, although you were sucked in the book for it to access your mind. But now, you brought it into reality. They will still remember their times which you fought with or alongside them, as well as their lives before then, as we do ours, but now they aren't more than characters that play out a certain role. You've literally torn them from the book. Speaking of them, who were they?"

"Percival, as Blaze, Gawain, as Knuckles, Galahad, as Silver, Lamorak, as Jet, Bors, as a friend of mine, Mighty, and Galehaut, Omega."

"Bors and Galehaut weren't even in the book... And what happened to Lancelot?"

"... I had managed to get them to find their way back to help kill the king, and...Um... I was looking up bolt action rifles before I went in..."

"Why would you need to know how to make a bolt action rifle before you read a book?"

"It wasn't my first time in it."

"Well why did you want to go a second time?"

"FOR SCIENCE!" Sonic exclaimed proudly. "And I had nothing interesting to do for the whole week, after the whole interstellar amusement park thing. Though I mainly went in to see what would happen if I acted differently, perhaps get to know them more without actually knowing or talking to them. My first, original run was me acting normal, but this run I was kind of a jackass."

"That really isn't the most polite thing to do, you know. It's essentially invading their privacy."

"Well, it could help me out later by knowing a little something about someone earlier before getting to a point to find out something like, I dunno, Shadow will just not go to cold places, and stuff like that."

Aerea nodded. "Alright."

"And besides, every day in the book is an hour everywhere else. That's awesome."

"Yes, many do like that feature."

"If I go back, would they be there?"

"Well, the characters weren't in your head when you entered the first time, right? You met them just then. They will be recreated."

"Good."

"May I ask what that is for?"

"Yes."

"Well?"

"I said you can ask, but you won't get an answer."

"Oh come on," the elderly woman groaned, pinching her brows. "Why would you need duplicates of people you know?"

"I want my own Batcave, alright?" Sonic admitted. "A little army. I'm not going to take over the world or anything, it's in case if something ever happens to me. They will be disguised, of course. All of them will have their own looks, their own identities, their own little code names when I get things organized. They are my emergency world-saving kit. If I'm not there, they will be. If I have to win back the world, they'll know what to do. If I ever die, they'll know who killed me, and they'll spring up. Do you understand what I'm trying to do?"

"It makes sense, I believe..." Aerea dragged off, questioning her words.

"If they enter the book, will they go through the same thing I did, and be able to leave, or will it just suck them up and call it a day?"

"It would behave the same as if you did so. Casting will vary, however."

"Speaking of casting... which characters did you implement in the book? Merlina, The Black Knight, which ones did not come from my mind?"

"Ah yes, my _original characters_." -_Original the Character DO NOT STEAL_- "Those two, the average grunt enemies, and the civilians."

"No crystalline things?"

"No..."

"You haven't designed ONE demon or something that takes over people?"

"..."

"Oh... Well I got this guy in my closet..."

"I thought you said you only brought out six! May I visit your house for examination of this creature?"

"He's sorta in bits though. Like sliced bread."

Aerea sighed, resting her head in her hand.

"I'll bring him in a box some other day. I've got more important things to do with dead people that came from books. Like _living_ people that came from books."

"Respectable."

"Can I bring multiple people in? I brought multiple people out at once."

"Yes, you can, and the world is cast using the mind of the first person in. This may cause doppleganger problems, however. Be warned if you want to have any "field trips" back."

"Alright, a couple more questions and I'm done." Sonic announced. "Will this work on other media, perhaps with a modification somewhere? Like, being sucked into a movie?"

"It function awkward and dangerously as the movie would still play on the screen, and can be paused, rewound, fast forwarded, and such. You could, but even if you could beat the Knights of the Round Table story blindfolded, I wouldn't recommend movies."

"How about video games?"

"Looking to relive some times?"

"More rather do them differently, yeah."

"Weh-ell, I'm not too familiar with them, and it'd probably have the same problems as the movies, but at least people couldn't rewind or fast forward it, that's for sure."

"Great, one more thing. Does the quality of the book effect what happens in the book's world?"

"I wouldn't think so."

"Okay. Fantastic. Thank you."

"Come again!"


	38. Procrastination

Monkeyboyinc, I said _50_K, not _100_K. You made me spend thirty minutes just to check. And it's not even right. Close... but not right. At least this site's word counter and me adding up thirty five numbers think so.

In other news, I'm getting to the point where I'm having trouble being ahead again, on top of that, I'm not entirely sure how to approach the things I want to implement in the story with the things I have. I know where I'm going, I just don't know how to get there. It's like I have a motor boat, but instead of the motor in the back I have a motorcycle engine, an extension cord plugged into itself, a bladeless fan, and some plumbing pipes. This might take a while. In the meantime, try to enjoy the rather pointless chapter with a fitting name.

* * *

**CHAPTER 38: PROCRASTINATION**

Sonic shut the door behind him, and looked at his guests. They seemed as alienated as... well, a bunch of Medieval Knights watching modern television.

"Okay Kari, what do you got for us?" Grant Imahara said from the Mythbusters show playing on the TV. -_Oh God, they've been watching MYTHBUSTERS this whole time! Fuck, even I'M still bamboozled after watching that._-

"I've got this historical myth, and I love this one." The lone woman on the show, Kari Byron said. "Now, in ancient times, even up to the 1800's, some armies in China actually made armor, out of paper."

Sonic blinked in awe as their faces refused to change. They were watching the TV with thousand yard stares. -_... I'm not sure what to call this, but they've seem... broken, now. Like they don't care they're about fifteen hundred years into the future._-

"Paper armor? That is cool, I mean paper is the _last_ thing you would think of to make armor, I like this one." Tori Belachi said.

"And the cool thing is, the paper armor was supposed to perform as well as steel."

"I bet this one is just a myth." Gawain broke the silence.

"I HOPE it's just a myth!" Lamorak groaned. "If all this time, we could make armor out of paper, and I HAD TO BE WEIGHED DOWN WITH STEEL, I'm going to go back and kill that blacksmith that made us our armor."

"Guys." Sonic said, making them aware of his presence.

"Oh, hello." Galahad said.

"... You didn't turn off the TV from shock, or anything?" Sonic asked, expecting them to be scattered across the room in separate corners asking themselves why everything they knew was wrong.

"No. We figured we might as well start learning about this strange new world." Bors answered.

"And isn't it strange? Christ." Lamorak added.

"Look, what you guys pretty much did, was went into the future about fifteen hundred years. Welcome to the twenty first century." Sonic explained. "Anyway, I got some answers from the lady who went all magic and stuff on the book. Now, to inform you of your job here in my world."

Sonic went up and turned the TV off to ensure their attention was on him. The Mythbusters show was a rerun of the episode, and he knew how it end. Lamorak would not be happy. He quickly made his way over to the computer, turning it on.

"You are now my _little secret service_. If I nor my friends can step up to a threat, you guys will come in and deal with the problem." Sonic said, spinning the swivel chair to face them. "Soon, you all will have new looks, new identities, and new lives. New personalities too, if you're dedicated enough. Let me get on with the biggest problem at the moment; getting you out of my apartment and outside without anyone noticing. I'm pretty sure I'll settle with putting you all in boxes, loading you onto a big truck and unloading you in Green Hill or some other place, where we'll begin making a hideout. But, I'm not entirely sure how to cover that up, though."

Sonic took a breath in. "So, instead of trying to ask you about how I should transport you out of my small apartment, I'll switch to a different topic."

Sonic swiveled the chair back around to see the computer fully operational. He opened up an internet browser and went straight to Youtube, and began typing in the search bar.

"Come. This is what two desperate men and a couple thousand dollars of funding can do in this world."

The knights soon huddled around the hedgehog in the chair, and they watched the moderately long intro play out. The background was cluttered with distorted words, and instruments none of the knights could make out. While the intro was playing, Sonic thought it would be good to explain a couple things that may bother them while watching.

"You won't be called out to deal with situations like this. These guys are armored. The things they're holding are like the Moist Nugget, except fire seven hundred rounds a minute. The police force standard issue weapons weren't enough to break their armor. And this happened."

They both sported masks, thick jackets, gloves, and plenty of pockets. They entered the building, seen walking toward a group of civilians on a line. They pointed his gun at the ceiling, and let loose.

"~It was a cool winter's morning, somewhere shortly past nine AM." A growling voice in the background narrated. "The armored car they wanted to heist wasn't coming, so _instead they went for the bank_.~"

The two masked robbers filled a bag with money and went out into the parking lot, shooting at dark-dressed men who looked more 'official', to speak, and civilians dressed casually. Despite their numbers, they seemed to be panicking.

~Baptized in a firefight,  
Hot blood running _cold as ice_.  
_Forty-four minutes_ of target practice,  
All hell's breaking loose  
_OUTGUNNED_, watching the force  
Come to a firefight  
With a pocket knife.  
Getting schooled  
UNTIL they shot Achilles heel,  
AND _BROUGHT DOWN THE BEEEAST_~

The music was not like anything they've heard before. That said they didn't necessarily like it, but the video they were seeing was atrocious. People of all kinds, excluding the robbers, receiving wounds, seemingly ineffective weapons which did nothing against the armored thieves, and all for what looked like a couple piles of money. Later on in the video, one of them got into a strange machine, which moved in front of his companion. He tossed the money in the back, and they drove their way out of there, slowly. One of them was walking, for some reason. Possibly to protect the car. He got into a short firefight, the car ultimately leaving him behind, and with some dust kicking up around him, fell to the ground almost comically. The other, further down the road, trying to switch to a different machine, saw another vehicle speeding down the road toward him. He ran over to behind his original machine for protection, and exchanged fire with those inside the vehicle. After a few seconds of tossing shots back and forth, one of those from the vehicle, who appeared much differently from those earlier in the video, shot at him from beneath the machines, knocking out his legs from underneath him. Soon, he lay there, with his back against the machine, dead.

"And that's the simple stuff G.U.N. deals with. That was just to get Gawain shaking in his shoes." Sonic said. "You will be facing _much_ worse."

"How much worse?" Gawain asked, trying to sound like he was listening to Sonic explain a challenge.

Sonic moved his mouth to the top of the search bar and began to type:

"Space Colony ARK shoots the Moon"

Before he hit enter, he clicked the Youtube logo with his scroll wheel three times, opening three new tabs. He then typed in the new search bars:

"Black Arms Invasion footage"

"Chaos Incident"

"Interstellar Amusement Park Black Hole"

* * *

When the videos ended, Sonic turned around to see them all equally shocked and terrified at the amount of destruction they witnessed. Even Lamorak was surprised at how one would get a base up in the atmosphere, let alone how it was able to blow a good portion of the moon off. He was to busy reacting to the Eclipse Cannon to even comprehend what the Black Hole even did.

"Luckily, we were able to rebuild the surface of the Moon." Sonic said. "G.U.N. responds to these incidents, but me and my friends are the ones who get anything productive done."

Sonic paused, awaiting a response. There was none, as the knights began to disperse, to recollect their thoughts and their minds that were just blown just moments ago. "But, you guys won't be alone in this case. I plan on returning to the book, doing more runs, and recruiting more of you. It's essential that you create a decent functioning system to specifically identify yourselves before then so I don't have to ask "Which one of you did I meet first?" whenever I want to call out to a specific person."

"Indeed," Bors began, proceeding to shake his face like a wet dog, wiping the thought to the back of his mind. "We need color coated armor, perhaps. The group color being signified by the color of the decals."

Sonic nodded, thinking it is a good start. "You guys wouldn't have to do that, because you're the first of my knights. I'm going to plot how you get out of here."

* * *

About an hour passed. Sonic was still trying to find their way out. To think with all of the memorizing of all the weapons and designs he did before entering the book, he couldn't conduct a decent stealth plan to get them out unnoticed. -_Perhaps through the book? They might fuck up though. Or worse, I could fuck up, getting sidetracked by someone or something and then suddenly BOOK RUPTURES OPEN, AND OUT COMES SIX MEDIEVAL KNIGHTS COMPLAINING ABOUT HOW THEY GOT STABBED IN THE DICK. I'd rather keep the box idea. Box 'em up, hire some trucker, load them in, ship them off, and drop them off, opening when he's away. I mean, works for snakes, why not?_-

-_... Okay, that's how I get them OUT, but I still need a decent false reason to. And what I do with them when I get there._-

It would have to take a few days. He wondered how complex or simple his cover-up would be, when the time came he found out about it. Probably very simple, unfortunately he's not that good at making stuff up. And, he was prone to a little malfunction in his head he has taken to calling "brain farts". Finding a decent and believable story to tell to an intrigued trucker suddenly pack things up from his crammed apartment to ship them off to someplace he didn't even _know_ yet to do _something_ with them would be hard to do. Some ambient tune began playing in his head as he realized how much perfection he needed to pull off. He quickly tried picking at some elements in the song, comparing to the thousands of songs he knew. Quickly, he found it. The song he had on his mind was Fitter Happier. His thought process then began bouncing back and forth between wanting to listen to the song or something else.

-_~Fitter.  
__Happier.  
__More productive.  
__Comfortable~ _

_STOP. I need to actually THINK about something that will help me. Radiohead is good, but not right now, god dammit._-

Sonic got up from his chair, and began to pace.

-_~No paranoia.  
__Careful to all animals.  
__(never washing spiders down plughole)  
__Keep in contact with old friends.  
__(enjoy a drink now and then)~_

_Will you be quiet? I'm trying to think here._-

Garnering the attention of his new friends with his troubled and aimless walking, Sonic was getting more frustrated at the song stuck in his head, wondering why he thought of it.

-_~Favors for favors.  
__Fond but not in~*THWACK*_

_SHUT UP OK COMPUTER WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU EVEN PLAYING THIS ISN'T EVEN FITTING BACKGROUND MUSIC GOD DAMN GO DICK A SUCK OF BAGS_-

Sonic decided to play a video game, now ignoring the robotic voice and the piano tune in his head that persisted. He panned through his collection of game cases for his many consoles, searching for one that would get him immersed, and yet not further alienate his new friends who he had almost forgot were feet away from him. As he eyed the covers of his games, it came to him that he could enter any one of them, as if it were reality, and experience it first hand. It filled his mind with delight as he grabbed a copy of Mirror's Edge. He could see all the beauty of the stylistic city firsthand, _and_ he could use his natural super speed. -_That would be sweet._- Sonic looked at other games he had, namely Super Mario Galaxy, Rock Band 3, LittleBigPlanet, Kamatari Damacy -_oh boy oh boy oh boy_-, not to mention all of the games based off his adventures (every time he saves the world, he tells his personal reports of the action through his perspective to the world, although once in a while, SEGA was allowed to get creative license) with the same, great delight, anticipating all the things he would do, the experiments would conduct, the things he'll take out, and, oh, the fun he'll have with all these games he found so enjoyable. He smiled like a child on Christmas morning, flipping through game cases.

It was then he found the case of American McGee's Alice: Madness Returns.

His face froze in the delighted grin he had.

Sonic had played through the game only the first two chapters, which was a few hours into the game. It was not even a horror game, or even scary, and it had been enough for him to say that insanity is like a blender stuck somewhere inside his stomach. Always wrenching and tearing stuff up and it can't be stopped removed unless they want all of it coming out, and then they're on the floor, crawling around in their own twisted insides. And, to make it worse, it also seemed like a spreading disease. Anyone could get insane, if they interact with an insane person long enough. And in mental hospitals, anyone could feel it in the air. It could only get worse in there, he assumed. A melting pot of mental illness. But thankfully, the hero of the game, Alice, has already been through a mental hospital in the previous game, and in the reality of the game, currently resides in an orphanage.

It had dawned him that the possibility of him having to endure the game personally actually existed.

He was not in the mood for video games anymore.

The flimsy plastic case flew out the window at remarkable speed, over the noisy, busy streets of Station Square, smashing into the brick building opposite of his apartment building. The case bent to fill the gaps left by the cement in the brick wall, but due to a lack of support it fell off and landed on the street.

Sonic dusted his hands, turning his back from the window.

-_If a nurse told me I would be going to a mental hospital, I would STAB the NURSE in the NECK with a NEEDLE. Then I'd probably hum 'Sanitarium' in a strait jacket for the rest of my life._-

"What was that for?" Percival asked, confused as to why he chucked the case so fast it she could hear the wind as it sped by it when it was across the street.

"Oh," Sonic said, trying to find an excuse out of explaining the plot of American McGee's Alice. "I just... didn't..."

To answer his prayers, Galahad's stomach growled.

"I'm hungry." The White Knight explained.

Sonic leaped to the opportunity. "Oh. Anyone else? I can get food here quick, give you a taste of your new world."

Gawain nodded. "Sure, that sandwich didn't fill me up at all."

"Why not?" Bors shrugged.

"I WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND HUNGER." The large knight stated.

Sonic smiled as he reached for the phone. This will take a few days, he knew, but he might like it that way. Hopefully he gets no unexpected visitors while his knights. He gets to spend some time with a lot of people he doesn't usually meet as often as he does Tails or Amy. -_WEEK LONG MEDIEVAL SLUMBER PARTY! WOO WOO WOO WOO_-

Just before he pressed the first number, however, the thought came to his mind that Caliburn suddenly went missing. And that he was placed in the Scabbard the last time he saw him. Sonic, now worried, had to ask. "Percival, what did you do with the Scabbard?"

Percival shrugged, her emotions neutral. "It was putting me in an off mood, much like it had done to yourself. So before I had an episode or some such reaction, I put it in the closet."

"And Caliburn?" Sonic inquired.

Percival slowly rose an eyebrow. "Where is he?"

"He was sheathed inside the Scabbard." Sonic said.

"... Oh."

It was then they heard the almost comical growling from the closet.

* * *

So yeah there's my shitty excuse for a chapter. Sorry, but this is coming to the end sooner or later, and like I said, I got the boat, I know where to go, but I can't figure out how to get there with what I have. It might take a little longer than a week to get this next one out. Again, sorry, but I never really thought of HOW the story would get to its end. I know what it will be like, but just I'M NOT THERE YET.


	39. Riding a Black Unicorn

I apologize greatly that I'm garnering Notch's work schedule and the developing format similar to what produced Duke Nukem Forever, but I'll have you know, this story WILL be finished. I'm just spending my time writing other little tidbits that go with this, and/or dumpster diving (read: looking for interesting stories in this section of this site) for something to beat the clogging out of my neural plumber's nightmare scientists call a "brain" that is stopping me from finishing the story. So here have the best title I can manage to think of in two weeks.

* * *

**CHAPTER 38: RIDING A BLACK UNICORN DOWN THE SIDE OF AN ERUPTING VOLCANO WHILE DRINKING FROM A CHALICE FILLED WITH THE LAUGHTER OF SMALL CHILDREN AND THE BLOOD AND TEARS OF ENEMIES**

**-**_I WISH it was that awesome but whatever._-

It had been a week, and Sonic had finally come up with a good cover for his schemes, and was putting it into action. He would say Tails was building another workshop somewhere in Green Hill, and although Tails had plenty of supplies himself, Sonic had to do 'grocery shopping'. And that he had no idea what the kid would possibly want to do with piles of flashlights, refrigerator boxes, shovels, drills, jackhammers, plumbing pipes, hundreds of wooden planks, wood glue, nails, hammers, a few solar panels, tents, sleeping bags, piles upon piles of fur dyes of various colors, and book or two on electric circuitry and tunnel digging, but that was all on the list and Sonic was just getting it all for his good pal Tails. Definitely not some sort of secret lair for superheroes like the cashier of the depot had theorized. -_"I've got better things to do with my life than make a secret lair," I joked. "Like make a clone army. Do you know how awesome a clone army would be if you had one?"_- So the hardware store supplied Sonic with a truck and a driver, who was ready to go, but Sonic noted that there were some boxes of stuff Tails left in his apartment the last time he came over. And that the eight year old fox can carry a lot. These 'boxes of stuff' would be the Knights.

Sonic walked into his apartment with the eight folded cardboard refrigerator boxes. The driver kindly let him borrow a wheelbarrow, duct tape, and a screwdriver, and expected him back in ten minutes, at least.

"Alright everyone, get in a box." Sonic said, passing out the seven boxes to his six knights. "Percival, bring the files with you, Galahad, that small container has food in it, bring it in your box..."

"YOU SEEM TO HAVE TWO EXTRAS." Galehaut pointed out. "I PRESUME IT IS FOR CALIBURN AND THE SCABBARD?"

Caliburn groaned. The Scabbard doesn't treat him too well the last time they were in each others company.

"The Scabbard and Caliburn are going in Bors' box." Sonic noted. "One of them is for the giant dark salami I have in my closet, and the last one is for you."

"BUT I ALREADY HAVE A BOX."

"Do you honestly think you could fit in it?"

Galehaut examined the box. There was a very noticeable size difference between himself and the box. He wouldn't fit in it.

"ARE YOU PLANNING ON GRAFTING THESE BOXES TOGETHER?"

Galehaut took a moment deciphering the message Sonic was trying to send as he held up the screwdriver.

* * *

Sonic hauled the second half of the Robot Knight Galehaut out of the sixteen wheeler truck, down the ramp, across the bright, life-filled grass of the Green Hill Zone, and down a small pathway into a small, alley-like spot, hidden inside a gap between two cliffs that normally he would leap across the tops, and not pay attention to what lies below. Seeing as the area was subtle, and not near like how others would place their secret lairs, Sonic felt like he made a good choice in his location.

"That's the last of it." Sonic announced, relieved, pulling the hand truck out from underneath the box. The trucker had not got the slightest suspicions toward him, only toward the variety of supplies they carried out.

"What do you think Tails is gonna do with it all?" The driver asked, walking over to claim his trolley.

Sonic let it go, scratching his head. "Heck if I know. You won't believe the things he can build."

The driver began wheeling the trolley back. "I've heard the stories. You're the one who reports it all, right? Every little 'adventure' you're in?"

Sonic followed him. "Yeah, but not _every_ one. A lot, though..."

As the two walked back to the truck, Lamorak felt right to complain when they were out of earshot.

"This thing is so frickin' uncomfy."

"I AM IN TWO PIECES." Galehaut stated. "COPE WITH THE SITUTATION."

Percival added onto Galehaut's "You shouldn't be talking" message."Is it really that uncomfortable? I've slept on _volcanic rock_ under a _mine cart_ thinking I'd die the next day."

"That's because you suck at fighting and wouldn't _HUNT HIM DOWN_ like a _MAN_ would!"

"KEEP QUIET." Galahad ordered through a whisper.

"It's not like they can hear us by now." Lamorak explained.

"Look just shut up will you?" Galahad insisted.

Sonic cast a shadow over Lamorak's carboard box as the truck drove down the dirt road.

"NO! OLIOLIOOO-"

Lamorak felt the box begin to tip.

"-OOH FUCK!"

As the box slammed against the dirt, Sonic giggled to himself while his knights laughed. While they laughed, blind to see what Sonic was doing, he lifted his foot and dug into his shoe. In a moment, he withdrew a pocket knife.

"Yeah yeah, real funny Sonic, can you open us up now?"

Sonic flicked open the pocket knife, and flung it around as he made his way over to the top of the box. The swordsmanship skill he had in the books rubbed off onto him in reality. However, he felt a stinging sensation in his fingertips as he continued to stare at the blade's edge. He didn't feel this when looking at all the nasty looking swords, why does it do it now? He shrugged it off as something to do with the dream not being reality, and if he tried hard enough, he could do anything in it. -_Which is SO FUN to think about!_- With that, he switched it so that he was holding it backhand, and raised his hand.

"Yeah, just watch your precious little head."

The next second, a knife was plunged into the box, creating light in the otherwise pitch black insides of the box, coming out right next to his head. The Knights were told to wear their armor inside the boxes, and Lamorak was no exception, so if the knife had hit him, it wouldn't have hurt as much as it could.

Regardless, Lamorak flipped out.

"SWEET JESUS let me move down a little bit."

Lamorak put his hands up against the sides, and pushed himself into a crouching position. The bird signaled he was at a safe distance with a quick "Alright", and Sonic went and opened the box, dragging the knife through the tape. When he was done, he opened the top flap, letting a little bit of light inside the box. As Lamorak crawled out, he was pretty angry.

"Now what the heck was that all about?" Lamorak ranted.

"Don't be loud when you _know_ someone is nearby." Sonic answered, opening Galehaut's top half box. "Can't have you catching attention of anyone."

Lamorak sighed as he sat on the ground next to his box. "Wouldn't you deal with it from there?"

"Deal with it?" Sonic asked, pulling Galehaut out of the box from his hand. "How, exactly?"

"You know. Get rid of him?"

Sonic sighed, and glared back at the green bird. "You don't understand, that stuff really isn't _me_. It's not how I normally do things."

"Well you don't normally clone people, either."

"Killing is just not what I do. Not in reality. Sure, I hate a good amount of people, but I'd have to be _really_ out of it to kill someone. Lancelot's death was a result of the experiment, and a preset 'thing' I had planned. Anyway, grab a shovel. You have work to do." -_Thinking back, it was fucked up. Shouldn't have done that._-

"I'm better at digging," Gawain stated. "Get me out of here and tell me what to do, I'll get it done."

"Good idea, Lamorak make a workbench instead. Gawain, let me put Galehaut back together, first." Sonic stated, opening the box containing the robots legs.

A few minutes later, just after opening Gawain's box, Sonic was examining Galehaut as he walked, questioning himself if he did his work right. He glanced over at Lamorak, who was doing decent work on the workbench, making it extremely basic workbench. It was a good time to get out the plans. He looked over at the remaining boxes, not able to tell them apart.

Not wanting to open a box and find chopped demon or a frustrated armadillo with a sword, Sonic called out. "Percival? I need that folder. Where are you?"

A couple bangs on the side of a box answered him.

Sonic made his way over. "Alright, tip the box over. Don't wanna stab anyone in the face or something trying to open it upright."

"BAH!" Lamorak groaned aloud in the background at hearing that last sentence as Percival did as told.

As Sonic was cutting open the box, Lamorak noticed something while seeing if his bench had evenly length legs by resting on it. At the side of the road there was a tall, wooden pole. It seemed to have faces on it, from the top to the bottom. They were all angry and fairly ugly looking. "The hell is that?"

Before Sonic could look up and point out exactly what he was talking about, Lamorak decided to do something else with his question.

"Oh, wait, let me guess... That top one, it's a carving of your mother?" -_You've got to be shitting me Lamorak._-

As Percival came out, Sonic took the files from her. It was a hefty, business folder, and it contained The Knights of the Round Table book, the marble notebook where he kept his test results, a camera, photos of the armor both on and separate from its owner, detailed-yet-summarized papers on the people Sonic has met and their relation to him, and drawings of how Sonic imagined the underground base to be built. Sonic walked over to the makeshift table and slammed the folder on it. The knights that were free from their boxes gathered around as Sonic opened the folder and took out the blueprints, which lacked the "blue" feature as they were drawn on graph paper. Sonic realized he should have got a suitcase, but that would look all the more suspicious.

Sonic began to explain the main entrance, using his finger to point out certain pieces. "Alright, first of all, I want you guys to dig a decently sized square hole, for you to come in and out of. Not too big, not to small, good enough so you can walk through. I drew stairs here because I wanted to go with the graph, whatever.. Then, you do the typical mining support piece, wood on both walls, ceiling, and a little triangle to keep them upright and supported, and dig out, say, seven, eight feet, and put a door somewhere in between. Then I want you to hide the entrance as soon as possible, with an outhouse like I've drawn here. It's not that anyone comes by here every day and would notice this, but people would pay less mind to an outhouse than what at first glance looks like an open grave. Put the dirt on the ramp down here, make sure it's nice and square so people with the intention of keeping their cars wouldn't try coming here. As you dig, add a couple giant stairs of dirt so you can make your way out. That's all that I will tell you for now, because I'm going to get more of a work force, and I'm going to have to explain it to them as well."

"You're returning to the book?" Percival questioned.

"Yup." Sonic answered. "I'm gonna go for a less hateful, and more charismatic run."

He left the pocket knife on the table. "And open everyone else up." Sonic grabbed the book from the pile of items, and began to head off for some secluded corner of the area. He said some words over his shoulder as he walked. "Don't block the book, don't kill each other, that sort of thing. Bye!"

The Knights bid farewell and got to work. Sonic got into the dark, shady corner of the area, and, while no one was looking, slicked his over the top of his head as if he was hand-combing thrownback hair and grinned. -_Welp, time to try to lady kill and fail hilariously at it._- With that, he opened the book, and was then gracefully sucked in with such a tragic amount of force, Percival's ponytail rose and pointed in its direction.

* * *

About ttwo or three hours had passed, and a good amount of work was done. Gawain was digging the hole, Bors was transporting the dirt to the tracks, Galehaut was to get supplies around, and Lamorak, Percival, and Galahad were working on the outhouse. The outhouse was drawn to have hinges so you could open it like a trap door, and the hole would funnel into a large pipe which Sonic noted should deposit off a cliff into the ocean. They decided to skip the pipe, and make the trap door for now. The tunnel was coming out well, for the most part. The cave seemed to be holding up just fine.

While working, Galahad wondered something. "He said that he was to be acting different during his experiments?"

Percival answered. "Yes, he did."

"And time passes differently in there, like, two and a half minutes per hour?" The hedgehog questioned.

"Yes."

"What do you think he's doing right now?"

* * *

Sonic walked out from the restaurant. He felt oddly paranoid, which was a good thing. A substantial amount of enemies were hidden when they struck, and today, he defeated King Arthur, and right now, the festivities were just as booming as the last time he came, if not, even more. He feared the Merlina might be more hostile with her methods of acquiring the Scabbard. Perhaps she could have hired mercenaries. To add to it, his 'ladykilling' wasn't going as planned. He felt like it wasn't his style, and he was right to feel that way. He felt slightly disappointed about it, yet in a way, somewhat relieved. He had bought a coat tonight to make him less distinguishable at a glance, or in a crowd, and as he left the place he ate at, he stole two kitchen knives, and kept them in the inner pockets of his newly acquired jacket.

* * *

Percival was interested, but hadn't put thought into it. "I don't know, fighting something? Maybe Arthur?"

* * *

He was pulled into the alleyway, as he feared he might be. He got prepared for an attack, specifically with something blunt. He was ready to fight back, but something about the grip of the attacker rose his suspicions.

* * *

Galahad scratched his chin. "What do you think he's doing there? Experiment-wise?"

* * *

He glared at the bat girl that had pinned him to the wall. Having the opposite look of his, she grinned as she leaned in closer to his face, her eyes explaining everything she wanted to do. Meanwhile, Sonic's eyes twitched.

* * *

"I don't know. What do you think?"

* * *

Sonic threw the bat off him, at the other wall of the alley, and reached for the knives.

* * *

"I don't know, that's why I asked, sorta."

"Want to know what _I_ think?" Lamorak brought up.

"No." Said the two others in unison.

* * *

The street slut, now pinned to the wall by both knives stabbed through her wings, her forehead held in place as Sonic reared back a fist.

* * *

"Too bad, I bet five rings he is inside a woman right now."

* * *

The bat girl was fighting back ferociously as Sonic attempted to rip her teeth from her mouth.

* * *

"You are a pervert, Lamorak." Galahad noted.

"More like _womanizing piece of shit_." Percival, Lamorak's sister, corrected.

* * *

After failing at trying his attempt at malicious brute dentistry, Sonic kicked the bat in the gut to get her to stop biting down on his hand. With his now free hand, he hooked his fist upward toward the bat's jaw.

* * *

"Whatever, runaway." Lamorak threw back. "I still bet he is though."

* * *

With torn wings, the bat was thrown to the ground. Sonic retrieved his knives, and looked over at her.

* * *

"You're unbelievable, man." Galahad shook his head.

* * *

"Don't try me, you _dime-a-dozen wench_." Sonic growled at her as he turned away, looking at his hands. He wondered if bats had poison, or just sucked blood. -_If she does have poison, I seriously hope Knuckles doesn't get in on that.-_

* * *

"WHAT IS THE SITUATION YOU ARE HAVING HERE?" Galehaut asked, trying to stop the situation before it turned into a fight.

* * *

Sonic grunted back a scream as he felt the her nails slashing against his back. -_Holy SHIT she's scratches like a nail on a chalkboard!_- Two more swipes later, he fell on the ground, rolling on his back to see the bat ready to pounce at his face. He raised his foot.

* * *

"Nothing unordinary; Lamorak's being Lamorak." Percival noted.

"AH, I SEE. LAMORAK, STOP. WE'VE BEEN THROUGH THIS MANY TIMES BEFORE."

* * *

As the bat flew through the air, she tried to fly, but the bending of the skin of her wings only reminded her that they had been cut. Before she could hit the ground, Sonic rolled back and jogged away.

* * *

"Fine, fine." Lamorak groaned.

"AND THEY ALL HAD THE SAME RESULTS; YOU ENDING UP LEAVING, AND COMING BACK INTOXICATED, INCOHERENTLY BABBLING ABOUT FEATS YOU'VE NEVER DONE AND BLATANT LIES. ALLOW ME TO RECALL ONE OF THESE DELUSIONAL FALSE FEATS OF YOURS..."

* * *

As Sonic walked away through the thick crowds with his knives concealed inside his pocket and no suspicion gained from anyone around him, he realized he should have handled it differently. -_I'm supposed to be a DAPPER LADYKILLER, not some plain old LADYKILLER. If I need to do any of this stuff RIGHT, I need to stop treating everything like a political fucking problem. Okay my virginity deserves to be treated like a political problem, and I like to be legit about my life achievements, but still these experiments won't get anything done if I don't dare. Then again, I'm not sure if you can be considered 'legit' when you're the guy planning on making a clone army._-

* * *

"...BUT THEN YOU WALKED OVER IT AND STATED 'NO'. AT THAT POINT, THE PIT IMPLODED AND TURNED INTO SOLID GROUND." Galehaut retold one of Lamorak's stories.

"... Can you offer up a little more details?" Lamorak asked.

"THE DUNGEON WAS OCCUPIED OF NECROMANCERS, WHO KEPT ON REVIVING ONE ANOTHER. THEY WERE PREPARING A RITUAL THAT NEEDED A SACRIFICE-"

"Ah, I remember now..."

* * *

Sonic arrived at the blacksmith's place once more. -_Anyway, I need to stop treating this like reality. Play my cards right, it won't effect reality. It's a book. Deal with it._- He opened the door, and walked in. The Knights were there, lounging in the Blacksmith's chairs made with the decent amount of carpentering and sewing ability he had. He was paranoid of them, too. They just might carry out their king's last orders.

-_I shouldn't be a critic of what I try to do here. I need to stop being a Celibate Hero in this world. I've proved it myself hundreds of times, in theory, from reading fan fiction, and I even went and dated Amy, __albeit because of a fucking bet Knuckles and I had over Tails having enough man in him to do a Hammerhead stall, which I promptly dodged by reading The Book the first time, and I've come to realize the only thing that will land me anything above a brother-sister relationship with anyone with is __bad writing__... In my opinion at least._- Sonic looked back at the knights, and smiled.

-_So I need to ACT like I'm part of a badly written book. I need to ACT out of character._- Sonic pulled a chair from the table, sat down, and threw his feet on the table, leaning back. -_I don't know WHY I am saying I'm ever IN-character in the first place, but FUCK, JUST FUCKING ACT. AND ACT __BAD__!_-

* * *

Two hours later, the knights working on the outhouse heard some commotion coming from the book. They looked over toward it, and it was spitting out Sonic. And Percival, then Gawain, then Lancelot, and lastly, the blacksmith. Galahad and Percival were glad to see Lancelot's face, intact and not shattered, however Lamorak hadn't paid too much mind.

"Welcome to your strange new world." Sonic greeted. "Keep your armor on, it'll help identify you, for a little while. It's going to take a while to explain, so please, don't kill anyone here, or run off."

Sonic, without asking, took the sword from Percival's sheath and cut the rope between them, and proceeded to do the same with the others. She didn't pay attention to him, she was looking at the duplicate of herself, as was Gawain. Lancelot and the Blacksmith noticed the duplicates, but were wondering where theirs were.

Sonic rushed over to the table, undoing the rope knot around his waist. When he had got there, he had begun writing quickly in his marble notebook.

"... You are me?" The new Percival asked, stupefied.

The older Percival, having already been broken into the idea of multiples of herself a little, answered calmly. "Yes, yes, and there's another one of us elsewhere. We're not to meet her."

"Oh... well..." She was at a loss of words. The veteran counterpart couldn't blame her. She glanced off at the Gawains, who were currently failing to get a word off to one other. Galahad was going on about how nice it was to see Lancelot again. Needless to say, Lancelot was less optimistic, but he thought curiously about why.

"Look, it's... nice to see you, but why are you bouncing off the walls?"

Galahad stammered. He wasn't sure how to tell a living person that he died. "Well... You see..."

"NO, GALAHAD." Sonic boomed over his shoulder. "You won't talk about that, I will."

"Are you sure?" Lancelot's son asked.

"Yeah, just settle down." Sonic, finished writing in the experiment recording book, decided to cut the conversations between the two groups. "Alright, alright, the sun is going down. Let's get some tents up, and I'll explain everything to the new guys."

The knights ran off to find the tents in the pile of items. Before he left, Sonic turned to Lancelot. "Starting with you."

"What the hell is he on about?" The black hedgehog interrogated.

"I don't know how to put this, so I'm just going to put this as bluntly as possible. Lancelot, there is a reason there's no duplicate of you here. I... Let's see..."

As Sonic dragged on, Lancelot wondered what was so bad, his face slowly turning from passive aggressiveness into confused disgust, flinching back into passive aggressiveness as Sonic began to speak again. As he spoke, Sonic took out his hand and counted each offense with his fingers.

"... I blew your face open, I looted your corpse, I didn't even bury you, and then I believe I gloated about it in front of your mother, who kidnapped you when you were a baby. But that's okay as it wasn't _personally YOU_, right?"

* * *

-_Well, that went better than expected._-

Sonic shifted inside the sleeping bag. He wasn't in a tent, he chose to stargaze before sleeping. You couldn't see the ground outside. The only illumination came from the stars above.

Lancelot did not react bad at all toward Sonic claiming to have killed him. Granted, he thought it was a lie, and the others were delusional, but Sonic didn't feel like arguing with him. Lancelot complied just fine. The others got along well.

-_This is starting off shaky, but it'll pick up with a couple more days._-

The base was turning out fine. The disguise was working fine, all that is needed now is to make it work and not make proof of it landing on their steps. Sonic had planned this with a pipe leading out the side of the hill over a beach. Other than that, the secretive door was built and functioned as planned. Sonic saw it as opening into a lobby, on the left being the dorms, the right the armory and war rooms, and in the middle, the king's room, holding his metal gauntlet, Caliburn, the Scabbard, his armor, and the books. Of course, it will take quite a while for it to be more than dirt hallways, but with a multiplying workforce, he couldn't guess how long.

-_It'll pick up a lot. I wonder what I could use these guys for. Anything, really._-

The populace of the base, as he imagined, would get along. There should be differences in personality, if ever so slightly; to make them feel more alive. To make it so that everyone didn't act like robots to each other, all agreeing on the same exact process without debate. And he hoped it would stay at 'debate', not 'argue' or 'fight'. He would have to have a regulatory squad in there somewhere to prevent fighting.

-_But what WILL I use them for? They're like insurance. It helps a lot if something happens, but that is if something happens._-

He couldn't predict the future, and so many times he wished he could. He would have done so many things differently.

But now, even though they would change his life, he could. Thanks to Aerea and her ability to enchant forms of media, he could take some of the games he has starred in and redo them. Fix the things he did wrong, change things around, make things right. He could destroy Metal Sonic, he could talk down Shadow, he could kill Eggman. And he could do it again, and again, and again, and _again_.

-_I've waited so long for this day._-

With Aerea's enchantment, he had the power to go into other realms, as well. Not just ones based off his. He could do something rational, say, a game starring a particularly famous plumber, or he could throw caution to the wind and enter an action movie.

-_This day will be the day I started something._-

He wondered how glorious it would be in a few years time. His childhood dream of doing anything he'd ever wanted to do, could be done in so much less time. He could see all the world had to it and more, he could enjoy it all, soak up all the fun before he has to leave, one way or another. He'd be complete. What he wanted to do when he left his small home on Christmas Island at the age of twelve with nothing but a biplane with a full tank of gas, a map he had no clue how to read, and determination, done. He almost squirmed at the thought. He almost felt complete already.

-_Something great._-

Sonic almost couldn't believe it. It was all almost too easy. There had to be a catch somewhere. The thought of what he was going to be doing with the rest of his life crossed his mind, but he didn't look at it with fear. He saw it perhaps a chance to live a normal life. Perhaps to go even further beyond what he expected. He didn't know, but he liked it that way. He felt that if his life were a movie, this is the point where he would break into song singing "Don't Stop Me Now" while lighting the night on fire with fireworks, flares, bright lights and music. He could do that, but it would have to be later. When the clones work. When he stops Eggman once and for all. When he's complete.

When he's back home.

-_I've started my way back home._-


	40. The End of the Beginning

**CHAPTER 39: END OF THE BEGINNING**

-_BUUUT not yet. Everything is a lot to do, but I've still got my youth. Oh, and I'm gonna be taking this thing over._-

In reality, it's been a month since I've started working on this, but to me, it's been nine. Nine months of experimentation, finding flaws in people, finding how to fix them, or just plain old fooling around in the worlds that I chose. And, chronologically and physically, I haven't aged a bit faster than I should have outside of the book. Somehow. I asked Aerea, she said it was something to do with me being a real world object, but honestly she never really figured it out completely. "The details had been lost in time," she said. I got Aerea to "enchant" a couple things, had fun with them, did what I needed, and now business is booming.

The secret lair is really picking up. Enough rooms for a hundred people, although I don't plan on having a hundred people to look after and support. The lobby and throne are finished, and they're working on making their rooms comfortable until the guys with the wood come along and brighten up the place. Speaking of brighten, it's all lit up by lights, as thankfully the squad I chose to handle circuitry and plumbing read up on the books I gave them and understood them, even Gawain. If Gawain didn't get it, there would be a lot more trouble in hiding the wires. Speaking of electricity, the way we get our power is just so absurd, that if I told you you wouldn't believe me. So I'll give you how it started: I had these solar panels, and I wasn't sure where to put them that would look discreet, and to top it all off I was bored, so I took a hang glider, a solar panel, a bungee cord, and a computer running Minecraft off an enchanted external hard drive. Results were glorious. So glorious, that I eventually issued a couple more computers running off the same harddrive, and got a group of clones dedicated to extracting things from the game world into reality. I'm able to do this as the hole in the book doesn't close when the bungee cord is running through it. Because of time moving much faster in the book than in reality, this ended up with a lot of supplies being sent back up fast. You can see coal just lying around the base, and everyone has a gold bar. We're like dwarves down here, except instead of mines, we scrounge on other planes of existence.

As far as the whole "don't get found out" thing is going, it's going great. Some of them even managed to land jobs. I don't know how this happened. I'm pretty sure they didn't get around to getting new legal identities legally, but whoever seems to be breaking the law seems to be doing it for the better of the rest of the base, slipping them into society. I'm not sure what we're using to bargain with the guy that slips the identities in, or if he's doing it for free, why he's doing it, so I should probably find out more about this. I'm not one to stay on the off-side of the law, even though the law has screwed me over once or twice. They're decent morals. Because of the whole fake identity thing, one nice Galahad is right now reading up on stuff needed to set up an internet connection here. Maybe we can get some sort of redirecting IP or something like that. Others have been bringing in office supplies for me, like paper, pencils, that jazz. It's appropriate to say that I feel like a boss. Like a boss. Like a baws.

Let me go on about my throne room. On both side are things I've picked up along the way; the armor, instruments I bought, items I've found in chests, I even found and tamed a mimic. You know. It's like a chest, except when you open it, it tries to eat you. It's in a cage, in case anyone is tempted. At the other end of the room, there is my throne; it's pretty bad, though. Just a chair and a desk. I will improve it later on.

Behind the desk is a mannequin with a navy blue commissar cap and a coat to go with it. They're both very plain, not a lot of details, I'm supposed to be Sonic the Hedgehog, after all. Not a character for the next Final Fantasy game. That rules me out of belts and zippers all over the place. The only details is gold lining, and two white viper stripes on the back. I love them viper stripes. I cannot help but feel something's missing from the mannequin's outfit, though...

Anyway, behind that, is a waist-high wall-mounted shelf with three things on it, sitting upright: To the left, is "THE TOME OF ARTHUR", as I've written across the front. It's the book I wrote the experiments in, the results, who I brought out, who they're called, what they look like, what they do here, things like that. To the right, is King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. The book that spawned all of my knights. And, in the center, is Caliburn and the Scabbard. Along the way, Caliburn somehow managed to overcome the agitation the Scabbard can cause. But only him. I think I know how, but that's a story for later. Anyway, no one can touch any of the items behind the desk.

Well, that's my piece of it all. Allow me to delve deeper into the people I've taken from fictional stories and how I changed them.

First of all, I know the stories don't have to involve people I've met. Proof of this is Murdoc being that warlock guy. This means if I look hard enough I'll be pulling out people like Dante out. Or, I could come in with different things, or more people. I can't just think "oh, the next guy I see is an alien" and suddenly I see an alien walking by. I have to bring certain items or persons in with me in order to make a certain event happen. Allow me to provide some examples: Bringing in duplicates will cause every character to become paranoid result in spy-game shenanigans. Bringing in Tarot cards will create a Deck of Many Things somewhere in the world. Bringing in and armor and shield will result in everything having increased defense. This allows me to specifically pick out the kinds of people I want. Other times, it can help me challenge, or entertain myself; like I went in the King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table holding Demon's Souls, and in return the whole world had a lot of elements that came from Demon's Souls. And this other time, I went in while holding a copy of Sonic and the Black Knight, and all I got was fucking Xibit grinning at me for five seconds. It didn't even start the story, my mind rejected me going in there. There was nothing but "YO DAWG WE HEARD YOU LIKE STORYBOOKS..."

Anyway, with that said, onto the main kind of populace in the base. I swear, with the knights, it's like a twenty-four seven sitcom. The normal, large group with Galahad, Lamorak, and the others alone cause socializing down here to be pretty crazy, now add in clones of them all with slight differences between each other. The duplicates are more different than I expected them to be, although they are all still the same person. Because of the effects of bringing things in, I have more knights with specific attributes, such as defense and willpower. I have some knights who have an over-developed sense of vengeance, some with magical abilities, and one with the constant need to be at the top of their game. They will all have their uses, in due time. Also, as I go on, the process of creating a new knight's "new you" takes much longer, as their designs can't mix up with anyone else's. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, however they are all the same _fucking_ person. Sooner or later, I'm going to have to be designing recolors.

But, as I've watched the base develop, I can't help but feel that I've changed. Maybe. Maybe I've grown used to this, being called "king". Maybe I'm becoming used to calling the faces of a two-tailed fox "Smithy" than "Tails". Maybe I'm spending too much time here, and I need to, well, get out more. Live my life again, put this aside for a while. I don't know how I would ever feel if I called Amy "Nimue", but if I had to guess, I'd say a little more bad than she would. I don't want that to happen.

That about sums up the brief history of the base. As I write how simply amazing it feels to be managing this community of fighters as if it were a well oiled machine in the Tome of Arthur, my cell phone began to ring. I was surprised it got reception down here, before dropping the pencil and picking up the phone. It was Tails. Good, I have a feeling this might be the beginning of my vacation.

And I proved myself from two paragraphs prior that I was right. "Hey Sm-" -_FFFFFFFFUUUUUCK._-

"Huh?" Tails asked confused. "What was that?"

"What?" I questioned. With experience in the book, my lying became better. I could make false stories and make them meet ends pretty easily. I would have been a little bit more worried than I am now.

"That noise at the end." Tails

"Uh... something my mouth did, I guess? I'm drinking orange soda right now, so... yeah." I lied. "What'd you call for?"

Thankfully, he bought it. Tails trusts me. No reason to overreact over a little stutter like a grammar Nazi. "Yeah, I called because there is something very strange happening here at Emerald Coast. I'm getting some weird power reading from a storm. I'd like you to drop on by, in case things get out of hand."

I felt the tone in his voice. He probably wasn't kidding when he said strange things happening. Although it is average for strange things to happen when you're in my friend circle, this one seemed to stand out from the bunch. It could be something sinister.

"I'll be over there. How bad is it?"

"It's passively growing stronger. It'll be really bad in an hour, though."

"I'll be there in fifty minutes, then."

"Really, Sonic? That late?"

"Heroes always arrive late, Tails." -_If you get this reference, you are cool._-

"Fine, fine. Just get here before you can't get here, it's pretty bad. Bye."

"See you Tails."

I hung up.

I couldn't believe I almost called him Smithy.

"That's it, I'm done here." I proclaimed to no one in particular, as no one else was in the room, sitting up from my desk. I grabbed The Tome of Arthur, and brought it over to my printer. I began to photocopy some pages. Specifically the rules I want my knights, but also basic information on the experiments on I've brought out, and where they are now. While printing, I thought about pulling a joke, making it seem as I was going insane while writing it. And then blow it off and say I'm fine and I did it all to mess with them on the next page. The ideas that came to mind seemed to overdo it, though. As the final page came out, I decided against it. That's also not too me, though. I've done some pranks, some almost scary, but that idea seemed a bit too much.

I skimmed through what I read extremely quickly, flipping through the pages. "Vanilla group... defining look... flipped and flopped between success and failure... final battle anthem... huge ass iron column-on-a-stick...БЕИ , pronounced BEI... Ragin' Johnny Fuklaw... passphrases... yup it's all there." I mumbled with satisfaction as I noted that none of the pages were hard to read.

I got up from my chair with the packet in hand, and headed out to the lobby, hoping to find some of the knights lounging. I did, there was a Lancelot, Galahad, Leon, and a Galehaut. I was about to walk up and ask the Galahads to deliver the packet to Percival, when I saw her walking out of the hallway. I turned to talk to her.

"Hey, Percival." I greeted.

"Yes?" She responded.

"I have stuff to do away from here." I answered. "Tell everyone else I'm leaving."

The fox was the first to question. "You're leaving? Really?"

Percival didn't have many questions. "So sudden?"

I sighed, somewhat questioning why the others in the room only watched. "Yeah, I know, but I've got more important things to, involving a friend of mine. On top of that, I believe I should be taking a vacation from all this stuff. It's wearing myself away from reality."

"Oh." Leon said. "I hope to see you soon."

"Yeah, more like a couple months." I admitted with a guilty voice. "It's only been a month for you, but for me? Half a year. Sorry, but this is really taking its toll on me, and I don't want it for a good amount of time."

They watched me as I head for the door. Percival followed me.

"And the packet?" She asked. I forgot I was holding it.

"Oh, yeah, this is for you." I said, holding it out to her. "Take it."

She did, looking at the front page.

"I'll update that packet when I feel like it." I said, opening the door.

"Bye." Leon the Blacksmith said.

"Be seeing you." An untouched Lancelot stated, almost uninterested.

"MAY YOU BE WELL OFF, SIR." Galehaut boomed. I can't NOT hear this guy in a crowd of people.

"Farewell, Sir Sonic." Percival said.

I was a bit underwhelmed. Starting up, I expected a big assembly for my leaving. But no, just everyone that was in the lobby at the time. I began to walk through the door. "See ya later, guys, and remember..." I was one step on the dirt stairway when I looked back to them, and said, "Stay gold."

With that, the door slammed shut, with a loud **BANG**.

I walked up the stairs, moving to the side of the plumbing pipe, and lifting the trap door. I opened the outhouse door, and securely shut the trap door, stomping it once or twice. I closed the outhouse door, and faced away from it. No one was outside working; it was all done underground now. Not a sign that there was people living a couple feet underneath their feet. Not a sign that I was involved with it all. All without a trace.

I suddenly recalled what was missing from my mannequin's outfit: the yellow scarf. I hadn't seen it since ballroom brawl on the way to Merlina's courtroom during my first experiment. For a brief moment, I wondered where it was.

* * *

As she read on, Percival lazily played with Sonic's yellow silk scarf with a finger. He didn't seem to notice he had it.

* * *

But only for a moment. It was just a scarf, a thin, yellow strip of cloth. But it was a cool yellow strip of cloth that I nearly broke someone's face for.

While I was there, thinking, I looked at my hands. I had control of an army of cloned people in my hands. Clones, whose original selves have fought against a man who is able to take up world domination schemes monthly, who were loyal to me, as their lives would have been reset if I hadn't brought them from the book. A loyal clone army, easily capable of taking over the world. And I had control over that.

I shook it off. I'm sounding like Eggman, here. I'm Sonic the Hedgehog now. I always was, I always will be, from now on. No experiments. No swords. No killing. Just me, being me, the true blue.

I looked around, admiring the colorful landscape. It was lush, green, slightly windy, and high noon. I loved this time of day. I wanted to admire it all for a moment. Maybe not a moment, I decided as I jumped my way out of the side of the crevice in the landscape.

With that, I walked through the Green Hill Zone, gazing around the luscious, beautiful landscape that brought fond memories, whistling the Green Hill theme.

* * *

Alright, that's about it for this one. I'm working on my next story, this time with less "Sonic slammed the Dragon Bone Smasher against Shadow's face, shattering it to pieces", less reference jokes, and more original gags and a plot not essentially stolen from a game. As you know, this entire thing is a piece of work weaved together from things in Sonic's imagination. Which is mostly cut and paste from other things. Anyway, it'll be a month or two before another fanfic comes out. Be seeing you.


	41. The Tome of Arthur

Percival watched as their leader left the cave that was created. She looked at packet of papers he gave her. The title read "The Tome of Arthur". He said it contained all his works with her former world. All the tests he performed. The total body counts for each one. Everything. Sonic had the original, a cardboard cover notebook with black and white designs on it, but it did not need to be the original to satisfy her curiosity. She opened the book to the first page, and began to read silently.

**The Tome of Arthur**

_The book "The Tales of King Arthur" is cursed. It has some magic that creates a world based on the person's memory, and casts people the user knows as characters within the book. These personalities may or may not be exactly as the character themselves were. There were several points throughout the experiments where characters did not act like their historical counterparts, more rather their real-life counterparts._

_This book contains everything I have gathered from the experiments. In these experiments, I've acted differently, whether it be acting more rude and harsh than I normally do, to singing songs whenever it fits. I've tried using only my fists, in others I used modern engineering to kill everything._

_Items within the book can be taken out. Items from the outside world can be left in. Best trash disposal system EVER. I wouldn't recommend trying it though._

_Chances are, if you're **not** Sonic the Hedgehog and you're reading this, you are probably one of my knights. Just in case you accidentally see another you while heading outside to get provisions for your comrades (hopefully you'll be in your disguise), rest assured, that isn't your doppleganger, and possibly it isn't another knight. It's your real-life counterpart. Those are the people that you are based off of. You could say that **you** are the doppleganger. But you're still you, and they're still them. They didn't grow up on a farm, or in nobility. Most of them probably haven't even killed a person. **Do NOT kill them or I will kill you, and I will have another version of yourself to go and take their place.**_

Percival rose an eyebrow at the last sentence. She knew he put it there in light of a... '_conundrum_' that she was sure would be brought up sooner or later, but she wondered why it was stressed so. Regardless, she read on.

_The next few pages contain the statistics, basic overviews, and comments on the experiments, numbered in order. They also contain the surviving knights I extracted, what I told them to refer to me as, and what their codenames are. It may be a bit hard to read, but deal with it, I'm not changing it._

Percival turned the page.

_1: __**Harsh... but fair: **__Focused on being rude, irritable, toss out more insults than usual and such things. I had also spouted references left and right, seeing if anyone would get them and laugh (meaning it is more of a dream, rather than an alternative reality), and I tried to see if I could get the Blacksmith (A.K.A. Leon, A.K.A. Tails) to develop a rifle a thousand several hundred years before its ivention. It was successful, but I tossed it into the molten mines before my fight with Percival. Recruited Saxton/Fang, Degroot/Bean, Al/Bark, and Rachel/? by a bar bet.  
Result: It was much more difficult than my normal run. Rings didn't seem to work at all; combatants took all damage naturally. I managed to get prepared for this, by getting armor. Things had changed when I was treating others harshly and making others do things for me. For example, I got captured by literally hordes of thousands of enemies right after I amassed an army of 80, but in return for a pet dragon I pretty much gave Nimue in the beginning, she gave me a strength potion that was AWESOME._

_Kills: 1400+ (6 important character kills; Lancelot/Shadow, Degroot, Al, Saxton, Rachel, and Merlina. In that order.)  
# of references: Lost count at 43. Last big one; As I took someone's hammer and made it set on fire, I shouted "Sonic Boom, Sonic Boom, SAWNIC BOOOOM," and proceeded to slap her shit so hard, the castle blew up. Made so much more sense at the time. Actually, no, it didn't.  
Extracted Knights: Gawain/Knuckles, Percival/Blaze, Galahad/Silver, Lamorak/Jet, Galehaut/E-123 OMEGA, Bors/Mighty  
Codenames: This is what I'd call the 'vanilla' group, since I didn't bring anyone out in first run/controlled test. Calling out to certain members among a large group, I will identify them as "Vanilla name", but in single squad situations, you will be addressed by simply your First name. I also refer to the first of a specific person by their actual name, unless if I say "Gawain**s**", or such.  
My Codename for this group: This is for the times when someone asks you a question like "Who do you work for?" You are to reply with my codename;"King Arthur"  
My cue phrase to break the act/disguise, and get down to work: "And I'm Arthur, king of the Britons."  
Comments: It seems the more I refuse to follow the main storyline and the more people I get involved, the more difficult the combat and situation is. I was also a bit more social, going out and getting mercenaries to do some work for me, so I didn't have to do all of Nimue's trials over again from last time. Those were a drag. After that, they turned on me, presumably to get my rifle, which I promptly threw into the lava before getting into a fisticuffs duel with Percival in which I enslaved her. The difficulty (and fun) curve went right up from there. Well, based on the results of this, I assume the more I mindlessly follow the story, the easier it's going to be. I will have to experiment on that later, but right now, I want to have some FUN with this thing._

_Position: Leading squad. Makes the big decisions, but that does not mean one won't listen to reason from another squad's perspective._

_Defining look: "Defining look" was the only term I could think of at the time for what I have in mind. It's a special attribute on your armor that makes you easier to distinguish from your others. This group has none, their lack of defining look being their defining look._

Because he had to explain everything, Sonic continued the test results on the next page.

_2: **Ladykiller:** In the metaphorical term, of course. Self explanatory. I use my good people skills to get them to all come with me after I beat them, and I try not to get any of the knights who left involved.  
Result: It flipped and it flopped between success and failure, due to my inability to not take this experiment seriously at all. Or, I took it too seriously, and therefore did the wrong thing. It was closer to the literal term than the metaphorical one.  
_

_Kills: 900~  
Extracted Knights: Lancelot, Gawain, Percival, Leon/Blacksmith/Smithy  
Codenames: Lancelot, Grossa Testa, Manana, Leon/Blacksmith/Smithy  
My codename for this group: "Wily"  
My cue phrase to refer to me as my real name: … Do I even know you?  
Position: Diplomatic/Combat squad. Wants to be as socially persuasive and likeable as possible, so you can get people to do something/not do something that ends in your favor. If not, fight them.  
Defining look: 17th century-esque fancy clothing. If they are sent out battle ready, they would sport the clothes over their armor._

_3: **The Musician:** I brought my MP3 player. I also say lyrics to songs whenever I find appropriate.  
Result: Everyone was amazed by the MP3 player. Some people wanted it to perform reverse engineering on, but I declined every offer. No one sang along when I sang, sadly. My guitar playing skills have improved since the beginning of the test. Not drastically, to my immense disappointment._

_Total Kills: 1100~  
Extracted Knights: Lancelot, Gawain, Percival, Galahad, Bors, Galehaut, Lamorak  
Codenames: Mr. Brightside, Headstrong, Anastasia, The Goddamn Batman, Rolling Thunder, E-1990 PAINKILLER, The Hellion.  
Codename for this group: "Male Joan Jett"  
Cue phrase to refer to me as my real name: "That's why I say 'hey man nice shot'."  
Phrase that must be said in reply to this phrase: "Good shot hey man." (doesn't really have to be said, but I LOVE IT when people do that)  
Comments: I used everything I could. Voltaire, Crush 40, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, hell, I even used the danananananananananana BATMAAAAN theme. It was hilarious, even though no one else thought it was. I referenced them to it now, and gave each one of them a cheap 2 GB MP3 player with selected songs on it.  
Position: Machinist/Recreation managers. These guys handle electricity, plumbing, and ventilation. Also parties. Also in charge of deploying **THE FINAL BATTLE ANTHEM**.  
Defining look: Brown, black, and gray/white clothes. Their armor is brown and black, with cog and gear features. Steampunk, if you will._

Percival read on. The strangeness of the tests had no solid consistency, but all the tests had some strange quality to them. One test would involve going in completely armored, and receiving a much more ruthless and unforgiving world, and the one right after it was solely to retrieve a character, and all he brought was a pineapple and a yoyo. He occasionally did "Wild Card" tests, bringing in random objects to see what would happen. He brought in a bear pelt once. The resulting effect infuriated him so much, he left the book, got a flamethrower, and re-entered the book. His results claimed he had "cured" the entire island of England, and a little bit of Ireland. She wondered briefly what needed curing, as the _Total Kills_ section was crossed out with thick black ink. There were no subjects brought out of the book, either.

Later on, Sonic started entering different things. Most prominently, he compiled a list of things called "SCPs", in which SCP meant Secure, Contain, and Protect, numbered one to a thousand. He went in and out of it several times, bringing a couple of these listed items with him each time. The first time, he came out with SCP-445, large stack of blank leafs of paper reading "Dr. Wondertainment's Super Paper!" on the corner, which could be rolled up and used as a telescope, folded to make an animated origami crane, and a hat/boat that supposedly could propel itself to sixty kilometers and hour and, as Sonic wrote in very uppity handwriting, probably due to laughing, "to quote the _official_ documents for it, "subject's physical attractiveness was greatly increased in the eyes of viewers. When both were performed simultaneously, both effects were achieved, with subject reported as looking _'dead sexy'_ while scooting around the water upside-down." _Hilarious_." He also came out with SCP-085, a sentient two-dimensional black and white animated girl named "Cassy" who lives on a sheet of the aforementioned Super Paper. She can be moved onto other items where a painting, however it is not recommended, as the last thing Sonic wants is a girl hopping around from paper to paper around the whole facility, each sheet being as plain and boring as the last. The next time, he came back with SCP-248, a bundle of stickers that read "110%" that supposedly increase the maximum efficiency by ten percent, and SCP-187, a girl who could see the future state of whatever she is looking at. Unfortunately for her, she tends to speak self-fulfilling prophecies that end with someone's death. She had mittens attached to her hands to avoid clawing her eyes out from some of the things she's seen.

And as if these SCP items and persons already having been tested in fictional government funded facilities that has been running for a hundred or so years wasn't enough for him, Sonic ended the segment of tests with a sentence stating he was planning on bringing more items out, and into King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, for cross-experimentation. And he only stopped entering the SCP database because he saw graffiti reading "WATCH FOR THE WHITE BIRD" while traversing to a facility during the beginning of his third run, and then got into an accident involving a white bird that may or may not have killed him, he was not quite sure, that resulted in him getting thrown out.

Percival shook her head. She had only just entered the twenty first century a month ago, and now Sonic's going into fictional top-secret facilities and busting out anomalies that couldn't be explained with billions of dollars of funding? She wasn't sure if they would sit well with the others. Sonic had done a total of nineteen experiments so far.

_That's the end of the test results, as of the first month of running. I know, it may be worrying that you will have to wear disguises and act as someone else when on the surface, but there is a bright side. You'll live twice as long with medication, better quality food for much cheaper, TECHNOLOGY such as REFRIGERATORS and OVENS and TOASTERS so you can preserve and cook food (I'll tell you now you'll have to be taught how not to use them like a moron). And it'll help my conscience if I find you a better place to settle down, or improve the current facility to make it more comfortable and clean, so look forward to a place made with less dirt and wood. It's probably not going to be like life in a castle, but it's definitely better than life everywhere else in your world. Be warned, since the average life is longer in this world, it's law to not fuck under 18 years old and not drink alcohol under 21. I'm pretty sure you don't need talking to about the first one, but the second one may be a problem, and I don't want to come back to find you guys piss drunk with a dozen people I have never met before inside the base, so please; no alcohol. And even though the age is 16, don't ever think about driving a car. You're BEYOND cars._

_Oh, before I forget, and passwords. Well, more like "passphrases" since they aren't single words. If someone gets past the outhouse disguise, have a door with some eye slit thing there, and ask for a passphrase. There will be several passphrases. Fellow knights (including me) only need 1 passphrase, so there it's a matter of preference, or you could set up a system that limits each group to one specific passphrase, whatever. I have my own passphrase that should be used only by me and people I send back. You can use common sense to figure out whether or not I would have sent them here. They are as follows:_

_ARTHUR'S CODE: "Son of a Bitch."_

_1: "Ni!"  
2: "It's only a flesh wound."  
3: "One, Two, Five-WAIT THREE!"  
4: "Aggghhhhhhh... that's the password."  
5: "Disregard passwords, acquire clone armies."_

_The thing is, they're funny or stupid passphrases, no one would think of them and would probably look for things revolving around the area, or if someone was slightly in on it, me, but no, I picked a bunch of crazy lines that even a hooligan wouldn't say. You can request changing them, I'm a reasonable guy, I probably would let it through._

_Oh, and since I have things to do, and that you were the first person to join me, Percival, you will be in charge when I'm not onsite. I shouldn't have to tell you to have responsibility over everyone else, especially your 'others'. Don't let anyone leave without their disguise, minus non-duplicates, don't let anyone in without correct passphrases, don't house an underground crime ring. Oh, and MAYBE you will be allowed to travel free of disguise if you are going to a cosplay convention. MAYBE. I'm not entirely sure of that, however.  
_

_That's all for now. I'll give you a more updated copy when I get on with that, with much less fooling around with your not-so-little head. Oh, and due to the massive amount of information in this packet and the possibility of all this confusing SCP stuff getting into someone who is WAY too curious and not at all trained, we all know who, I would rather you not hand out this packet. Explain rules, passwords, things like that, but more sensitive information, I'm sure you could tell by reading it, doesn't need to be said in a speech. Don't pass the packet around like a drunk girl at a party. Kicking back into my good ol' self again. Thank you for helping me help you help us all._

_~Sonic the Hedgehog_

Still giggling, Percival turned back to the front page. She let out a satisfied sigh as she stared off, her mind wandering.

"What's so funny?" She heard the voice of Galahad ask from her side. She flinched in reaction, and began to fold the packet.

"Oh, it's just that Sonic probably had fun writing this." She claimed.

Galahad nodded, interested. "Mind if I see?"

"No!" She overreacted, quickly realizing this, and letting out a little nervous laugh. "No, no. One of the things I just read was that Sonic doesn't like his stuff being passed around." _Like a drunk girl at a party,_ she thought, giggling. _Ahahahawaitaminute._

"Oh." Galahad replied, disappointed. "Well, anything you can share with us from it? Regulations?"

"Ah, yes. I do." Percival answered, unfolding the packet and switching to the last page she read. "Thanks for reminding me. He gave me a information about the groups and what they are tasked to do. Also passwords and restrictions."

"What are they?" The hedgehog asked curiously. "What am I supposed to do?"

Percival sighed. "This is sort of everyone's business. I'll have a meeting for it so everyone can hear it at the same time. You will tell everyone I will be having a meeting."

Galahad stood, and nodded. "Yes ma'am."

With that, the White Knight turned on one of his heels and began to walk away, garnering his equals' attention. Percival looked back at the packet of papers, and began to find the right words to say for her lecture.

* * *

I've been planning to do this for the longest time now, and I swear this went through so many revisions, but I finally decided that I held this off long enough, got my stuff together and finished this. I'm going to be updating this every once in a while with little sections of Sonic's crazy, over the top and possibly twisted experiments.

**SKITS AHOY, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!**

And, just a heads up, I'm working on my next story. This is just because this has so much potential. On the new story, I'm working on an outline instead of making it up as I go along with a basic idea of how I want it to end. I uploaded this fic when I was finished writing Chapter 14 or so, and it was hard to keep up while not heartlessly writing down summaries of what I want to put down. Anyway, see you later, I might have enough down to start publishing it by New Years.


	42. The Tome of Arthur: Medium Well

IN _CELEBRATION_ of my fic receiving 10k views, I'm going to stop working on my next fic for a while to add little skits to this. No schedule, however. This one's short, however. I'm not quite sure when, where, or WHY I got the idea for this one, but I love it.

* * *

**MEDIUM-WELL**

_I wondered how important Merlina was to the entire thing, and how things would have changed without her if I got rid of her the first time. So, I replicated my first entry–got two chili dogs and killed Merlina after I drove away King Arthur. _

_Result: It went normal, except people were constantly questioning my actions; In my head, I was questioning what morals could back such a thing up, other than "oh, you're all fake, only I'm real", which would make me come off as some selfish solipsist son of a bitch. I WOULD have extracted knights, but there was a problem..._

* * *

"I am Percival, Knight of the Round Table, servant of King Arthur. State thy name and thy master, Sir Knight!"

"I'm Sonic, and I have no master; only the wind that blows free!"

"Very well. Have at you!"

* * *

_During a fight with Percival, I learned something I never even thought about before._

* * *

Sonic swung at the agile female knight, who jumped back to dodge the blow. The blade of Caliburn had sunk itself into the rock.

"Sonic, look out!" Caliburn warned as Percival began to thrust her sword at him while he was regaining a firm grip of the heavy talking sword.

All this time, he was trying to be as skilled as he was when he first fought Percival; since then, he had learned the patterns of combat each knight uses. And, using this information, Sonic assumed that their counterparts in reality had a similar combat plan.

But he forgot for a moment that he was supposed to hide his powerlevel.

As the sword came to him, he used Caliburn to twist himself so that he was facing the blade. With his left hand, he swiftly smacked Percival's rapier away, and with his right, he brought down Caliburn from over his head with tremendous force.

_**THWACK**_

* * *

_While fighting, I accidentally chopped off her hand. Then, while I was tending to her wounds (because it is pretty much a girl I know whose hand I just chopped off), I smelled something._

* * *

Sonic sniffed.

"Did you set up a camp fire around here or anything? I smell something cooked." The victor of the battle asked as he finished wrapping an improvised bandage around the end of the arm, fashioned from the arm's sleeve.

Percival, confused, shook her head, still trying to hold back from groaning in pain.

Sonic, seeing as he did all he could for her with what they had on them, got up and began looking around for the source. The lack of camp fires was confusing, but it took a moment for Sonic to remember he was on a rocky crag in a sea of magma, and that one could easily cook food by dangling it from the side of the cliff by a string. Laughing at his own crazy thought, he began to sniff again. The smell of cooked meat still lingered in the air.

He then began to trace the smell. It was coming from right near him, actually. He began to turn his head, sniffing as he turned.

When Sonic's nose seemed to have found the food source, Sonic was looking at Percival's severed hand. Curious, he nudged it with his foot so he could get a better look at the chopped off wrist.

* * *

_And then it hit me. I then loudly proclaimed:_

* * *

"Mother of _God_, Percival! You're cooked _medium-well_!"

* * *

_So, from this experience, I learned that Percival, and in that effect possibly all Percivals as well as Blaze, lives while cooked without any noticeable inconveniences. I don't have a FUCKING clue. With this fact said and in mind, share this information exclusively with other Percivals, if you think they want to know. Further study on the subject, as well as eating of any fellow knights, is forbidden, such acts can be punishable by taking a trip into 28 Days Later in a strait jacket reinforced with barbed wire._

Percival put down the paper with a terrified cringe across her face. "Oh _God_, what?"


	43. The Tome of Arthur: Spindoctor

**Now less chopped up by lines! Anyway, I haven't really updated anything in a while, but that's because I'm juggling multiple projects. Which I shouldn't be doing, but it kinda ended up that way.**

* * *

**SPINDOCTOR**

"Phew! Finished!" Sonic let out as he finished writing in a fresh marble notebook. This book was part of a plan, that will ultimately widen up his opportunities. He held it up, and kissed it.

"Art thou sure this is going to work?" Percival asked.

Sonic nodded. "Of course it's going to work, don't tell me women are suckers for this kind of stuff. More-so elderly women, and _ESPECIALLY_ Aerea. Plus, I thought of all sorts of things I could say to make her fall for it."

Percival shook her head. "Art thou sure this is going to work _as planned?_"

Sonic was about to give a comical reply, when he realized she meant that even if the plan unfolded correctly, she could be left with some false information that she may spread around. That in mind, he gave a serious response. "Well, it could be a bit of _incriminating evidence_, but really the worst thing I could have told her, which I already _did_, was the fact I pulled dopplegangers from her magic books. Which in retrospect was stupid."

"Retrospect? Hardly. It happened yesterday." The second in command reminded her king.

To Sonic it felt like at least a couple days. "Oh. Yeah." Nervously, he rubbed the back of his head, bit his lip and looked down. "I knew that."

An uncomfortable silence struck as the two failed to conjure more words. Before Sonic was about to take his leave, Percival spoke again.

"And really, I'm surprised you'd even lie about this kind of stuff. I thought it just wasn't your... thing, lying or not." Percival asked, playing with the yarn strings of the yellow scarf around her neck.

"It's low of me, yes, but we'll talk about that later, Percival. Right now I have to get this thing enchanted." Sonic stated, ending the conversation by grabbing the book and heading for the door. "Then, we can literally do _ANYTHING_."

* * *

The bell clanged as the door opened. The hedgehog held the book behind his back when he strolled through the antique shop once again. The elderly woman once again greeted him.

"Oh, back so soon?" Aerea asked. "Is something wrong?"

Sonic looked back at Aerea, nervousness in his eyes. "Oh, no, nothing's wrong, it's just..." Sonic advanced toward her, taking the marble book from behind his back. "... A personal matter."

Aerea nodded. "Hmm. Do you want to talk about this elsewhere?"

"Yes, please." Sonic answered.

The two went upstairs into Aerea's room. Sonic was once again captivized by the art along the wall, and how closely it resembled scenes from the book. He never found any of the knights in the paintings, though. -_Of course, I'm not looking for Shadow in a suit of armor or anything, but simply put I don't see any scenes featuring the knights of the round–_-

"So, what is it you wanted?" Aerea tore him from his mind yet again.

Sonic's eyes darted a bit back and forth, and he sighed. "It's nothing about that Bat-cave thing, it actually, kind of... didn't go as planned."

"Oh, what happened?" Aerea asked concerned.

Sonic's eyes kept bouncing back and forth. "Ah, the Chemical Plant still had some kick in it, I'm afraid, aaand– I'm not here to talk about that." Sonic said, having shook with the last few words. "I'm here to make a request."

Aerea frowned. "But I don't do requests for enchantments like that, especially not after what you just did."

"Listen, _please._" Sonic pleaded. "You know how..." Sonic dragged on, after actually having forgotten what to say. "Ah, I worded this to myself much better before... alright, I'll put it bluntly; I'm kind of... _lonely_."

This sent the old lady, seemingly still a child at heart, spiraling into the biggest rambling Sonic's ever heard from an elderly person. He heard stories of people being set off like that, only a couple words causing immense speeches about their past lives, but he thought they were exaggerations. -_Jesus Christ this woman is talking up a tornado over here, in thirty seconds she made a ragtime movie look like bullet time slow-mo in comparison._- The hedgehog's face went red with embarrassment as Aerea babbled on and on about how Sonic feeling romantically lonesome was adorable and talking her love life that he honestly did not give a single damn about and she pelted Sonic with question after question that she didn't even take the time to let him blurt out an "uuh" without asking even more questions. This endless onslaught of paparazzi-like interrogation, senile recollection and baby talk was ended when Sonic finally spoke over her.

"OKAY YES I KNOW it's kind of pathetic and very humiliating to be here right now, so..." Sonic took a breath in, closing his eyes to calm himself. "... Can you please do your magic on this?"

"Sure I will!" Aerea cheered.

Sonic smiled at hearing this.

"But one question..."

Sonic's grin turned into a grimace.

Aerea couldn't help the fangirl inside her. "Who's the lucky girl you wrote this about?"

Sonic rose his voice. "NO! NO, I'VE ALREADY TOLD YOU ABOUT MY FAILED BATCAVE, THAT'S ENOUGH SECRETS OUT OF ME!"

Aerea leaned in. "Come _oooon_-"

Sonic held his hand out. "NAH-AH."

Aerea tilted her head. "_Pleas_-"

Sonic crossed his arms. "NO WAY."

Aerea sighed. She looked around for a second, and began again. "I'll give you another bo-"

"_NOPE_."

"Oh, fine." Aerea gave in, glaring at him. "You can be so stubborn sometimes."

"That's a positive trait to me." Sonic replied, handing the book to her.

* * *

"So then, after she enchanted it – which wasn't much of a process, took a bunch of runes and shot it with some weird ray – and gave the book to me, I was surprised she didn't even have to open the book or anything. She told me that magic's simpler than it sounds, but it didn't seem like I cared; she was right about that. Anyway, as soon as I got out the front door, a jumped, clicked my heels, and when I landed, I was JETTISONING down the sidewalk at two hundred miles an hour!" Sonic laughed with the knights around the slapped together round table, drinking a glass bottle of root beer.

"Just like that?" Lamorak asked. "She went googly-eyed over the implication that you had a crush?"

Sonic chuckled, and readjusted his foot's position on the box of things he had carried back from his apartment he could use if they were enchanted. "Well, she tried asking me who the "lucky girl" was and I was all "nope". Anyway, she had not a single clue that the book's writing actually was about her enchanting stuff for me for free. I have all this stuff here that's to be enchanted, where we could get things like food, supplies, and other useful things instead of trying to get it from elsewhere and drawing suspicion towards me."

"What was it that you wrote in the book, anyhow?" Gawain wondered.

"Oh, I can't really read it out of the book now, and I'm not sure how the book deals with out of character writing, but in short, it was something along the lines of..." Sonic began to recall what he wrote.

* * *

Sonic walked into the store. "Oh hey Aerea how's it goi-"

"OH MY GAAWD IT'S SANIC DA HEGEHAWG!" The old hag shouted. "YOU SAVED THE WORLD, LIKE, TWENTY TIMES!"

"Um, yes, I have, I-"

"SAY, WHAT'S THAT IN YOUR HAND? I GOT THIS COOL SPELL TRICK THAT WILL MAKE IT JUST LIKE THAT BOOK TAILS GOT YOU FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY LAST YEAR, WANT THAT THING IN YOUR HAND ENCHANTED? IT'S ON THE HOUSE"

"Okay sure."

AND THEN MAGIC HAPPENED. When the enchanting was complete, Sonic left through the door.

* * *

**Aaaand that's the long and short of it. I'm trying to work more on my writing, and hopefully I'll pick up the pace. Sorry to keep you all waiting.**


End file.
